VIOLENCE ERUPTS IN ASSAM MIZORAM BORDER OVER LONG SIMMERING BORDER DISPUTE FROM COLONIAL ERA DEMARCATION
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The border dispute along the Assam-Mizoram border escalated on
Monday over an ongoing land dispute between the two states resulting in
violence and vandalism. According to reports, stones were pelted, shots
were fired injuring people, including policemen, farmers’ huts were set ablaze,
and government vehicles vandalized. It is now confirmed that at least five
Police personnel were killed and over fifty Policemen were injured, including
the SP of Cachar district of Assam, Shri Nimbalkar Vaibhav Chandrakant, who
sustained a bullet injury in the leg.
Meanwhile,
the Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Mizoram Chief Minister
Zoramthanga have traded charges and sought the intervention of the Union Home
Minister Amit Shah, who asked the two leaders to find a way to
resolve the dispute. Monday’s confrontation has
taken place just two days after Amit Shah met the Chief Ministers of the eight North-East
states for a closed-door discussion on inter-state boundary issues plaguing the
region at Shillong on Saturday. Wherein, “the border issues were discussed and
all state representatives brought up their own apprehension. It was decided
that they would talk among each other and resolve it,” said an official who had
attended the meeting.
The three districts of Mizoram — Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit —
share about a 164.6 km border with Assam’s Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi
districts, which has
been a bone of contention since the colonial era.
EVENTS LEADING TO
CONFRONTATION:
For
the last month, a tense situation has been prevailing at the Assam-Mizoram
border along the Cachar-Kolasib districts, with security personnel of both
states deployed at the border, when Assam Police allegedly took control
over an area known as ‘Aitlang hnar’ about 5km from Vairengte, accusing the
neighbouring state of encroaching on its territory. On June 30, Mizoram
accused Assam of encroaching upon its land in the Kolasib district which borders
Assam, while the Assamese officials and legislators accused Mizoram of building
structures and planting betel nut and banana saplings allegedly ten kilometers
inside Hailakandi in Assam.
It
is not clear which side fired first on Monday, with each side blaming the
other. As
per the Govt. of Mizoram’s press release (linked below), the trouble started in
the morning of 26/07/2021 when around 200 Assam
armed Police led by IGP, Assam Police accompanied by DC, Cachar, SP, Cachar and
DFO, Cachar came to Vairengte Auto-rickshaw stand at around 11:30 a.m. and forcibly
crossed the duty post manned by CRPF personnel stationed there and overran a
duty post manned by 1 section of Mizoram police personnel. The Assam Police
also damaged several vehicles that were travelling along the National Highway
between Vairengte and Lailapur. That the entire development
had been quite unfortunate but It all started with the Assam Police’s
aggression into the duty camps of CRPF and Mizoram Police near Vairengte
Auto-Rickshaw stand.
While the
Govt. of Assam press release (linked below) accused Mizoram of breaching
existing agreements and status quo by constructing a road towards Rengti Basti
in Assam, destroying the Inner Line Reserve Forest in Lailapur area and setting
up new armed camp on a hillock next to the camp of the neutral CRPF force in
the vicinity. And that to diffuse the situation, a team of Assam officials
including an IGP, DIG, DC Cachar, SP Cachar
and DFO Cachar went to the area in the morning of 26/07/2021 to request
the Mizoram side to maintain the status quo. However, they were surrounded and
attacked by a mob of miscreants, visibly supported by the Mizoram Police. The
mob pelted stones at the Assam officials and destroyed three vehicles,
including the DC’s car. Simultaneously, the Mizoram Police fired tear gas
shells on the delegation, injuring the IGP. That the Assam Police has shown
remarkable restraint under horrific attack is borne out by the fact that there are
no casualties on the Mizoram side.
THE HISTORY:
The
border dispute between Assam – Mizoram has been a long pending issue, with several
rounds of dialogues held since 1995, which has yielded little result. The
dispute originates from a notification of 1875 that differentiated Lushai Hills
from the plains of Cachar, and another of 1933 that demarcated a boundary
between Lushai Hills and Manipur.
Mizoram was part of Assam until 1972, when it
was carved out as a Union Territory. Thereafter, Mizoram became the 23rd state
of India on 20 February 1987 following the Mizoram Accord between the erstwhile
underground Mizo National Front (MNF) and the Centre, which ended 20 years of insurgency
in the state. Mizoram remains the only instance of India carrying out an
airstrike in its own civilian territory in 1966.
According to a report by The Indian Express, Mizoram believes the
boundary should be demarcated on the basis of the 1875 notification, which is
derived from the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) Act, 1873. Mizo
leaders have argued in the past against the demarcation notified in 1933
because Mizo society was not consulted. MZP’s Vanlaltana said the Assam
government follows the 1933 demarcation, and that is the point of conflict.
In February 2018, the MZP had built a built a wooden rest
house in a forest, which they claimed was meant to provide the farmers a place
to rest. They were demolished by the Assam police and forest department
officials saying it was built on Assamese territory. The members of MZP had
clashed with Assam personnel, who had also thrashed a group of Mizoram
journalists who had gone to cover the incident.
THE RECENT DEVELOPMENTS:
Monday’s
incident comes after continuously increasing tensions at the border of the two
states, which started at the end of June. Before that, in October 2020,
residents had clashed twice, once at Cachar(Assam) – Kolasib(Mizoram) and the
second time at Karimganj (Assam)-Mamit
(Mizoram) districts, resulting in injuries, vandalism of property, a
three-week-long economic blockade and an alleged custodial death of an Assam
resident in Mizoram.
There was a
lull following the Centre’s intervention but tension flared again last month,
first at the Hailakandi-Kolasib border, and then at the Cachar-Kolasib point.
Following the dispute, Chief Secretary-level talks between both the states were
held on July 9 in Delhi.
https://dipr.mizoram.gov.in/post/press-statement-of-honble-home-minister-mizoram
https://twitter.com/assampolice/status/1419737472045486083?s=20
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