Itanagar: An organisation representing the Adi community in Arunachal Pradesh has sought an inquiry by a sitting judge into what it described as an "unprovoked police crackdown on peaceful protesters" in Pasighat on October 23, warning of a democratic movement if its demands are not addressed within 14 days.
In a representation submitted to Governor K T Parnaik, the Pasighat-based Adi Baane Kebang United (ABKU) also demanded stringent action against the police personnel and magistrate on duty during the incident at Raneghat Tinali, on the outskirts of Pasighat in East Siang district.
The incident was followed by arson and vandalism in the town.
Formed on August 1 following a public referendum to oppose the Siang Upper Multi-purpose Project (SUMP), the ABKU alleged that security forces suddenly fired tear gas shells and lobbed stun grenades at a group of youths who were sitting peacefully after completing a 24-hour sit-in at 2 pm on October 23.
"Many young boys and girls sustained injuries in the stun grenade and tear gas attacks and had to be rushed to the Bakin Pertin General Hospital in Pasighat," the letter, signed by ABKU president Dijhi Tamuk, general secretary Jirbo Jamoh, and others, stated.
Several organisations had called a 12-hour shutdown across East Siang, Siang and Upper Siang districts on October 23 to oppose the Pre-Feasibility Report (PFR) of SUMP, undertaken by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC).
The shutdown in East Siang had been called off a day earlier amid apprehensions of violence following the circulation of a threatening voice message on social media warning shopkeepers against opening their establishments. The shutdowns in the other two districts concluded peacefully at 5 pm, the ABKU said.
According to the organisation, the group of youths involved in the sit-in was independent of the organisations that had called the shutdown and was dispersing when security forces intervened.
The ABKU said the police action was unwarranted in a democratic country.
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ABKU links police action to subsequent violence
The organisation condemned the subsequent vandalism in Pasighat, during which agitated youths damaged the NHPC office, a police station and the residences of two legislators.
However, it described the violence as a direct fallout of the panic and anger caused by the police action.
"Had the security forces not resorted to this unprovoked crackdown, the Pasighat violence of October 23 would not have taken place," the representation to the governor stated.
The organisation said it had submitted video clips of the incident and the threatening audio message to the Lok Bhavan as evidence.
Dispute over the Siang project
The proposed 11,200-MW Siang Upper Multi-purpose Project is envisaged as a major hydropower and water-storage project on the Siang River.
The Arunachal Pradesh government has cited water security, flood moderation and hydropower generation among the project's objectives. The proposal has also been viewed in the context of China's planned large hydropower development upstream on the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet.
The state government has maintained that completing the project's pre-feasibility report would help establish its technical viability and determine whether and how it could be developed. It has said the report would allow an informed decision on the proposal and does not amount to an immediate commitment to construction.
However, the project has faced sustained opposition from sections of the indigenous Adi community over concerns about possible displacement, the submergence of ancestral villages, and environmental consequences.
