Normal life in Assam has come to a standstill following an indefinite economic blockade imposed against Nagaland.
The blockade was imposed after armed miscreants killed a farmer during a firing incident in the Naginijaan area near Mariani in Jorhat District along the Assam-Nagaland border, worsening the unresolved boundary row.
The All Assam Tea Tribe Student Association (AATTSA) has called for the blockade, which has severely disrupted road connectivity along the border.
The deceased farmer, Sanjay Bhumij, was a tea estate labourer and was working in a field close to the inter-state border when he was hit by a bullet.
Police and paramilitary forces reached the spot and exchanged fire with the armed miscreants for about an hour.
For the past two weeks, the situation along the Assam-Nagaland boundary under the Mariani police station has been tense, following the kidnapping of two labourers from Nagaland of Naginijan tea estate in May.
The border near Jorhat and Mokokchung has been on the boil for the past two decades. Both states have been periodically accusing each other of violating the agreement.
While Assam claims that its neighbour has encroached upon its land, Nagaland accuses Assam of setting up police outposts in several "disputed areas."
The people continue to live in a state of uncertainty and insecurity due to the periodic clashes.
Myriad violent insurgencies have beset India's remote northeast region, consisting of seven small states, for decades and thousands of people have been killed there since independence in 1947.
Some conflicts are campaigns for autonomy - for an entire state, a district or a tribal homeland- while others are clashes between numerous indigenous tribes, often over access to land.
