One person was killed and another critically injured after Assam Police allegedly opened fire on protesters during an eviction drive in the Paikan area of Goalpara district, as a joint operation by the Assam Police and Forest Department in the Paikan Reserve Forest turned violent on Thursday.
The deceased has been identified as Qutub-uddin Sheikh, while another individual, who sustained serious injuries, was rushed to a hospital in Guwahati for treatment, according to NorthEast Live.
According to reports, tensions escalated when evicted settlers, primarily Bengali-speaking Muslims, resisted by pelting stones and attacking security personnel with sticks and sharp weapons.
In Assam’s Goalpara district, the clearing of 140 hectares of land in the Paikan Reserve Forest led to the displacement of 1,080 families, mostly Bengali-origin Muslims, though residents asserted they had been living there long before the area was declared a reserved forest.
This eviction follows the demolition of homes belonging to 690 families in Hasilabeel, a wetland near Goalpara town, on June 16.
This incident comes as Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday declared that the crackdown on what he called “illegal infiltrators” will continue, reinforcing the government’s hardline stance on the protesters.
“EVICTIONS WILL CONTINUE, Safeguarding our forests and land rights of the indigenous people WILL CONTINUE, crackdown on illegal infiltrators WILL CONTINUE,” he wrote on X.
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here.
