ABVP activists hoist Tricolour near disputed land on Bangladesh border

GUWAHATI: BSF jawans on Friday prevented Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthy Parishad (ABVP) activists and local farmers from hoisting the Tricolour in the “disputed” Lathitila area of Karimganj district which has been handed over to Bangladesh by India through a land swap deal signed in Dhaka on Tuesday. However, they hoisted the National Flag in no-man’s land near the place in question later.

Sources said about 500 people, including ABVP members and local villagers, gathered at Karkhana Putni village and marched towards Lathitila at 1.30 pm. They raised slogans against the land swap deal of the government. However, as soon they reached near the “disputed” area, BSF personnel stopped them and prevented them from entering the place near the Bangladesh border. Later, BSF authorities allowed four persons, including three ABVP members and one farmer, to go to the no man’s land and hoist the National Flag near the “disputed” land.

A senior officer of the Karimganj district administration said there was no report of any untoward incident and nobody has been arrested.

Addressing a gathering there, ABVP’s northeast organizing secretary Monoj Nikhra criticized Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and chief minister Tarun Gogoi for giving nod to the agreement without consulting the owners of the land in question.

The protocol to the 1974 land boundary demarcation between India and Bangladesh was signed between the two countries during the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and chief ministers of four other states to Dhaka on Tuesday. According to the deal, the issue of adversely possessed land in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and West Bengal along the India-Bangladesh border was finalized.

Exchange of enclaves finalized in the agreement involves the “disputed” area measuring 5.374 km in Assam alone – 2.874 km in Lathitila-Dumabari and Madanpur-Polatol in Karimganj district and 2.5 km at Boroibari in Dhubri district. According to the protocol, 94.6 acres of land in Lalthila and 299.04 acres in Pallathal, which have been under adverse possession of Bangladesh since 1965, have also been ceded away to the neighbouring country. The state has lost Boraibari village in Dhubri district, covering an area of 189.06 acres.

On the other hand, Aasu on Friday evening took out a rally in Guwahati and other district headquarters of the state in protest against the Indo-Bangla land-swap deal. Terming chief minister Tarun Gogoi a “traitor” for handing over Assam’s land without consulting the people of the state, the students’ body warned chief minister Tarun Gogoi of facing stiff opposition in the coming days.

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