Pakistan summons Indian diplomat over Assam eviction drive, alleges Muslims being targeted in state

Islamabad: Pakistan on Friday summoned India’s Charge d’ Affaires to the Foreign Office and conveyed its concern over the Assam eviction drive, alleging that Muslims have been targeted in the state. Two persons were killed and 20 others, including policemen, were injured when the police in Assam tried to evict encroachers at Gorukhuti and other villages under the Sipajhar revenue circle in Darrang district on Thursday. A shocking video showing a man slinging a camera and hitting an apparently dead person with a bullet wound on his chest surfaced after the incident. A public protest had erupted over the demand for rehabilitation of 800 families who had been evicted from state-owned land where they had been living for decades. Pakistan’s Foreign Office said in a statement that the Indian diplomat was told that India must investigate the recent anti-Muslim violence in Assam and punish the perpetrators, It should also take measures to stop such incidents from recurring in future, according to the statement. The Darrang district administration has so far cleared 602.4 hectares of land and evicted 800 families since Monday and demolished four “illegally” constructed religious structures at Sipajhar.