Uneasy calm prevails in the border areas

GUWAHATI/SILCHAR: Mizoram is suffering a blockade of sorts as fear of possible violence at the border and protestors enforcing a `bandh’ in Assam’s Barak valley have ensured trucks to the neighbouring state have halted way ahead of the inter-state border. Armed police forces of both states remain near the border which witnessed armed clashes and death on Monday, though officials on Wednesday confirmed forces have been pulled back by at least 100 metres, in a bid to bring back peace. Normal life in the three districts of Assam’s Barak Valley too was affected on Wednesday due to a 12-hour bandh called to protest the killing of seven people, including six policemen, in Monday’s inter-state border clash.

All business establishments remained closed and few vehicles plied on the roads of Assam’s border districts of Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj. Emergency services were however exempted from the purview of the Barak Valley bandh that began at 5am.

Train services, were also unaffected, a spokesperson of the Northeast Frontier (NF) Railway said.

The bandh, called by Barak Democratic Front (BDF) and supported by political outfits including opposition AIUDF and social organisations, was “total” though there was no report of any violence from any district, another official said.

BDF Chief Convenor Pradip Dutta Ray said that people have spontaneously extended their support to the bandh.

“We were compelled to call this bandh as our police personnel have died and there must be a permanent solution to the dispute … we do not want any more bloodshed,” he said.

Several social organisations in Hailakandi district blocked roads leading to Mizoram and launched an indefinite “economic blockade” to prevent the movement of goods-carrying trucks to the neighbouring state.

Hailakandi superintendent of Police Ramandeep Kaur has been posted as the new Cachar police chief replacing Vaibhav Chandrakant Nimbalkar, who was injured in the border clash.