Assam raises pitch in Mizoram border row
SILCHAR/NEW DELHI: Assam and Mizoram were locked in a political standoff on Tuesday over a violent showdown at the interstate border that killed seven people and injured 41 others as the Union home ministry rushed troops to the troubled region and called an urgent meeting to defuse tensions.
Assam said it will deploy 4,000 commandoes to guard the 164.6km border and approach the Supreme Court to stop Mizoram from building roads on its side. In response, Mizoram said it bolstered its security forces and blamed Assam Police for the 30-minute-long gunbattle on Monday.
“People have sacrificed their lives but the boundary has been protected which we will continue to do at any cost. There is very strong deployment of police inside our border and not an inch of land will be allowed to be encroached,” Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
Mizoram rejected the allegations. “Yesterday’s incident was unfortunate, but Assam Police should not have entered Mizoram forcibly and remove residents,” said state home minister Lalchamliana.
Uneasy peace prevailed at the border between Cachar district’s Lailapur village and Kolasib district’s Vairengte town on Tuesday as central forces patrolled the area. “Five companies (close to 500 personnel)
have been deployed and another two are on standby... the current situation is peaceful,” said CRPF director general Kuldiep Singh.
The border checkposts are manned by central forces as they fall in the no man’s land between the two states. While there were attempts by some locals on the Assam side to block NH 306 that leads to Mizoram, the border between both states was open during the day.
In Delhi, Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla summoned top bureaucrats and police officers of both states on Wednesday, said ministry officials on condition of anonymity.
“North East MPs Forum has made an appeal to people of Mizoram and Assam, particularly people living in border areas, to maintain peace and harmony. We must ensure complete peace all along with border areas. Home ministry is looking into it,” Union law minister Kiren Rijiju said.
The decades-old border dispute sparked violent clashes on Monday, prompting a public spat between the two CMs and an intervention by Union home minister Amit Shah.
Violence broke out on Monday morning over allegations of encroachment. Civilians on either side of the border hurled stones and charged at each other and security personnel with sticks. Visuals showed policemen firing tear-gas shell and air pellets as people torched vehicles and huts.
The gunbattle came two days after the chief ministers shared a stage with Shah and spoke of resolving the border dispute amicably. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power in Assam and Mizoram is ruled by the Mizo National Front, a part of the North East Democratic Alliance headed by the BJP.
Assam’s Barak Valley districts of Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi share a 164.6km long border with Mizoram’s Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit districts. Mizoram was a part of Assam till 1972 when it became a Union Territory. It became a state in 1987.
LAILAPUR(ASSAM): On Sunday, a day prior to Monday’s violent clashes along he Assam-Mizoram border, Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga’s convoy passed through national highway (NH 306), which connects the two states. He was returning to Aizawl a day after attending a meeting of Union home minister Amit Shah with chief ministers of all states in the Northeast at Meghalaya’s capital Shillong. On his return journey, Zoramthanga halted briefly along the route on the Assam side and was greeted by deputy commissioner of Cachar district in Assam, Keerthi Jalli, and the district superintendent of police VC Nimbalkar.
Less than 24 hours later, violent clashes, which both Assam and Mizoram claim to have been started by the other side, killed 7 people including 6 policemen and injured 41 others on the Assam side. Superintendent of police Nimbalkar, who sustained grievous bullet injuries on his lower body, was airlifted to Mumbai by an Indian Air Force aircraft on Tuesday for treatment.
Assam shares 164 km of border with Mizoram and though both states have a long pending dispute regarding their boundary it intensified last year when some miscreants bombed a government school in Khulicherra area in Assam’s territory. Local residents claimed that it was done by Mizoram, which, in turn, claimed that Assam government personnel had forcefully constructed schools and RCC bridges on their land. Mizoram also stopped several top officials of Assam government and the central government from visiting those places.
On Monday morning, Assam police officials captured a camp near Lailapur border which was reportedly built last year by India Reserve (IR) battalion of Mizoram Police. According to locals on the Assam side, the number of Assam police personnel was much larger than the IR battalion. But when the news about presence of Assam troops broke in Vairengte in Mizoram, hundreds of locals started gathering at the spot. As per Assam government officials, around 11:30am, a group of people started pelting stones from Mizoram’s side.
According to journalists present at the site on the Assam side of the border, stone pelting continued from both sides for several hours till the firing started. Cachar DC Jalli along with SP Nimbalkar and other Assam officials were at the camp near Lailapur border.
Around 4:00 pm, superintendent of police of Kolasib district in Mizoram came to the camp and Jalli gave him her chair. But 20 minutes later, as the officials of the two states were discussing the issue, three tear gas canisters fell on the road on the Assam side; soon the place was full of toxic smoke. Few minutes later there was the sound of guns being fired. Police personnel, local residents and journalists ran for cover. Few people sustained injuries and were rushed to nearby government health centre , according to eye-witnesses. They were immediately referred to Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) in Assam. Several journalists from Assam who were covering the developments were injured , but not by bullets. Internet and phone connections remained disrupted at the site for several minutes and the place felt like a war-zone. The Mizoram version of how the events unfolded is different.
“Upon learning of the arson committed by Assam Police, residents of Vairengte town, Kolasib District proceeded to the site to inquire. These unarmed civilians were assaulted by Assam Police by lathi charging them and firing tear gas, thereby causing injuries to several civilians,” read a Mizoram government statement. Talking to HT over phone from Aizawl on Tuesday, Mizoram home minister Lalchamliana reiterated that Assam police personnel and civilians entered Mizoram and forcibly removed residents.
Mizoram information and public relations minister Lalruatkima who was stationed at the border, “The bloody clash could have been averted had CRPF prevented Assam police from entering Mizoram territory.”
On Tuesday, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma visited Silchar and met those injured in Monday’s attack. He also paid tribute to the police personnel killed. Sarma reiterated the claim that firing started from Mizoram side and announced compensation for family members of those killed and injured. Lalchamliana said that the situation along the border was peaceful and there have been no new developments on Tuesday. He informed that on Wednesday, chief secretaries and police chiefs of both states would meet union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla at New Delhi to discuss Monday’s incident and the border dispute.