Assam-Mizoram border tense as Guwahati announces mourning to condole deaths

The situation on the AssamMizoram border remained tense as Assam declared threeday mourning from Tuesday to condole the death of five policemen and one civilian in a border clash last night while locals in the states Cachar district threatened an economic blockade of the neighbouring state of MizoramDuring the threeday mourning period the national flag will fly at halfmast and there will be no public entertainment a notification issued by the Assam government saidAt least six persons were killed and 60 others including an SP injured in a bloody clash between the police forces of the two states along the AssamMizoram border on MondayUnion Home Minister Amit Shah who had last week held a conference with chief ministers of northeastern states in a bid to resolve prickly border disputes between the last night spoke to chief ministers of Assam and Mizoram Himanta Biswa Sarma and Zoramthanga respectively and urged them to ensure peace along the disputed border and find an amicable settlementEarlier in May this year firing on NagalandAssam border had similarly raised tensions However no deaths or injuries had occurred thenSarma paid floral tributes to the five slain policemen at Silchar on TuesdayWe are deeply anguished by the loss of lives of our brave assam police personnel I visited Silchar SP office and paid floral tributes to the five martyrs and salute their sacrifice he tweetedEarlier in the day the chief minister visited the Silchar Medical College and Hospital and met the police personnel injured in the attackCachar Superintendent of Police Vaibhab Chandrakant Nimbalkar has been airlifted to a hospital in Mumbai by an air force air ambulanceThe chief minister is also likely to visit the interstate border where the situation was stated to be tense but under control officials saidWe would do all possible to help the families of our martyred colleagues The injured would be looked after fully the Special DGP G P Singh tweetedAll lawful and operational measures would be taken to bring culprits to book and protect the integrity of the constitutional boundary of Assam Singh added in an indication that Mizo policemen who fired at their Assam counterparts would be prosecutedMeanwhile people of Kabuganj and Dholai area have iquestlaunched an indefinite blockade of roadsiquest leading to Mizoram from 9 am on Tuesday to prevent any vehicle from moving to the neighbouring stateSocial activist Jabir Hussain Laskar told reporters that the people of border towns and village will also launch an indefinite economic blockade from Wednesday and urged the Assam government to take steps to resolve the boundary disputeThe Barak Democratic Front BDF too has called a 12hour Barak Valley bandh on Wednesday in protest against the killing of six Assam police jawans and one civilian in Lailapur BDF Chief Convenor Pradip Dutta Roy saidThe Assam government in a statement on Monday said that a team of officials including an IG DIG DC Cachar SP Cachar and DFO Cachar went to sort out the dispute over construction of a road by Mizoram towards Rengti Basti in Assam violating the Inner Line Reserve Forest in Lailapur areaSimultaneously the Mizoram side also set up a new armed camp on a hillock next to the CRPF camp it said adding a mob from Mizoram started stone pelting and damaged three vehicles including the District Collectors carThe statement alleged the Mizoram Police simultaneously fired tear gas shells on the delegation and the IG was injured in this barrage In the afternoon SP Kolasib along with two Additional SP level officers held a discussion with the Assam delegationThe Mizoram officials went ostensibly to talk to the mob but the SP Kolasib returned again around 430 pm to state that he had no control over the mobHorrifically even while SP Kolasib was in talks with the Assam officers the Mizoram Police opened fire on the Assam officials and civilians who had by then gathered there from two dominating high features with automatic weapons including LMGs the statement saidTensions along border with Mizoram in Cachar and Hailakandi districts of Assam have been escalating since October 2020 with frequent incidents of burning of houses and charges of encroachment of land by both sidesOn October 22 2020 highlevel talks were held under the aegis of the Union Home Ministry where it was decided to maintain the statusquo and resolve the dispute through discussionsThe tension flared up again in February and since then people had fled their houses near Gallacherra border outpost after two huts were burnt downAfter a lull of few months a grenade was hurled on an Assam government team visiting the border by unknown attackers from Mizoram on July 10 while two backtoback explosions were heard from across the border in the wee hours on July 11A highlevel meeting between officials of both the states including the chief secretaries and DGPs was also held in New Delhi earlier this month on the issue to sort out the disputeMizoram was a district of Assam before it was carved out as a separate union territory in 1971 after years of insurgency and the district borders did not really matter The border issue cropped up after that as perceptions over where the boundary should be differedWhile Mizoram wants it to be along the inner line notified in 1875 which Mizo tribals feel is part of their historical homeland Assam wants it to be demarcated according to district demarcation done much laterThe two states share a 1646km border between the Assams districts of Cachar Hailakandi and Karimganj and Mizorams Kolasib Mamit and Aizawl districtsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever