[Prafulla Kaman]

DHEMAJI, 26 Aug: Assam-based students' organization Takam Mising Porin Kebang (TMPK) claimed that the 10 August firing incident in Lower Siang district was not related to boundary dispute between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, but was triggered by a dispute over a plot of land along the inter-state boundary.

Addressing the media on Tuesday, the TMPK's general secretary Sun-Donyi Pangging said that the incident was a clash between two groups of people residing in Badati village in Assam and Hime village in Arunachal Pradesh over claim and counter-claim to ownership of the plot of land.

Pangging appealed to the people of both states not to take the incident in a communal way, saying that the land dispute is not concerned with the interest of Misings in Assam and Galo of the neighbouring state.

The TPMK leader alleged that some politicians with vested interests are taking political mileage from the incident and misleading the common people portraying it as a clash between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

They expressed confidence that the regional committees set up for settlement of Assam-Arunachal boundary disputes will amicably solve it through dialogue as per the provisions of the "Namsai Declaration."