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Two Muslims were killed and several were injured in Assam’s Goalpara district after police opened fire during clashes with locals at the Paikan Reserve Forest on Wednesday, July 17.

The deceased have been identified as Shakuar Hussain and Kutubuddin Sheikh.

The violence erupted after forest and police officials attempted to evict residents allegedly living illegally on forest land. According to the police, the firing was in self-defence after members of the eviction team were attacked with stones and sticks.

Videos of residents pelting stones, chasing officials, and vandalising a bulldozer brought in for the operation. In response, security personnel pushed them back and tensions spiralled.

Reacting to the latest violence, CM Sarma reiterated the government’s position, stating that encroachments on forest and government land would not be tolerated. “No one has the right to illegally occupy forest land. The law will take its course,” he said earlier this week while addressing concerns over rising tensions during such evictions.

The eviction targeted over 140 hectares of land reportedly encroached upon in the Paikan Reserve Forest under the Krishnai forest range. The affected areas include Bidyapara and Betbari, where many families have lived for years without land documents.

This incident comes just days after another controversial eviction drive in Assam’s Lakhimpur district, where over 500 families were removed from forest land.

It is considered Assam’s biggest eviction drive for setting up a 3,000-MW thermal power project. Assam CM Himanta Biswa has taken a hardline approach toward removing alleged encroachments.

On July 15, Biswa announced over 160 square kilometers of land had been cleared of “illegal settlers,” compared to the size of Chandigarh, capital city of Punjab. He targeted the Muslim community of being alleged encroachers and “changing the demography of Assam.”

“Those evicted from our forests, wetlands, village grazing lands and other government land belong to a particular religion (Muslim). Most of them have houses in one district, but they have travelled to another district and occupied government land,” Sarma told reporters in Guwahati.

“Such trend has already changed the demography of lower and central Assam and they are spreading to North and upper Assam districts gradually. There is a conspiracy for demographic invasion and thereby reduce the indigenous communities into minorities,” he alleged.