Tension escalated on the Assam-Mizoram border on Monday over the ongoing land dispute between the two states, resulting in violence and vandalism. According to reports, stones were pelted, shots were fired in which people including policemen were injured, farmers’ huts were torched and government vehicles were vandalized. While Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga carried on business, Union Home Minister Amit Shah Both the leaders have been asked to find a way to resolve the dispute.
what happened today?
There is a dispute between both the parties over the alleged encroachment on each other’s land. On Monday, unidentified miscreants set eight farmers’ huts on fire, police said. Mizoram’s Deputy Inspector General of Police (Northern Range) Lalbiakthanga Khiyangte told PTI that at least eight vacant huts were set ablaze near Atlang stream in the disturbed area around 11.30 pm on Sunday. He said that these belonged to the farmers of Vairengte, a border village near Assam.
Meanwhile, at least seven Assam Police personnel were reported to have been injured during clashes at Lailapul in Cachar district of south Assam on the Assam-Mizoram border. While the official vehicle of the Deputy Commissioner of Cachar was vandalized, the firing was reported from Mizoram.
Locals on the Assam side alleged that miscreants armed with sticks, rods and even rifles attacked Assam Police personnel and damaged several vehicles, including those belonging to the Deputy Commissioner’s office, in Lailapur.
What is the Assam-Mizoram dispute?
The situation on the Mizoram-Assam border has been boiling since late June when the Assam Police allegedly occupied an area called ‘Etlang Hanar’, about 5 km from Wairangte, and accused the neighboring state of encroaching upon its territory. Was. Three districts of Mizoram – Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit – share a border of about 164.6 km with the Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi districts of Assam.
On 30 June, Mizoram accused Assam of encroaching upon its land in Kolasib district bordering Assam, while Assam officials and legislators accused Mizoram of building structures and allegedly betel nuts ten kilometers inside Hailakandi in Assam. And accused of planting banana plants.
Kolasib district superintendent of police Vanlalphaka Ralte claimed that over a hundred officers and policemen, led by the Deputy Commissioner and SP of Assam’s Hailakandi district, entered the Mizoram area and were camping there.
This area, locally known as ‘Etlang Hanar’ or the source of the Atlang River, is considered part of Mizoram and is about 5 km from Vairangte village in Kolasib district bordering Assam. However, AIUDF MLA from Katlichera Sujamuddin Laskar alleged that the residents of Mizoram have occupied about ten kilometers of Assam land at Chuninulla in Aisanglon villages under the Dholchera-Faisen border area.
Assam government officials said a team from Hailakandi comprising Divisional Forest Officer Montaz Ali, Border DSP Nirmal Ghosh and others reached the border, but was stopped by Mizo encroachers and forced to return. Ralte had said that the residents of Vairangte do plantation work in the area which they claim belongs to Mizoram since ancient times. He had alleged that several district officials and police personnel arrived from Assam and forcibly occupied the area on June 29. “It is a pure invasion by the neighboring state as this area belongs to Mizoram. The fear of being attacked by armed personnel forced the local farmers to flee.”
He alleged that officials from both the states discussed the site that day but the Assam authorities refused to leave the area. The police officer said that the residents of Vairangte, who reached the spot, were sent back home to stop the violence.
In addition, several crops and arecanut trees belonging to a Mizoram farmer were also reportedly damaged during the “eviction drive”, as claimed by the Assam Police and officials on July 10 at Buarchep near Phenum village. On the same day, an Assam government team was allegedly attacked by unidentified people with a hand grenade. The two states have been blaming each other for two back-to-back blasts across the border in the early hours of July 11.
Long running struggle
The border dispute between the two neighboring states has been pending for a long time. Several dialogues since 1995 have yielded little result to resolve the dispute. After a massive conflict in 2018, the border dispute resumed in August last year. The matter escalated in February, but was deferred after several talks with the Centre’s intervention.
The dispute stems from an 1875 notification separating the Lushai Hills from the Cachar plains, and another demarcating the boundary between the Lushai Hills and Manipur in 1933.
According to a report in The Indian Express, Mizoram believes that the boundary should be demarcated on the basis of an 1875 notification, which is derived from the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) Act, 1873. Mizo leaders have argued against it in the past. The demarcation was notified in 1933 as the Mizo society was not consulted. MZP’s Vanlaltana said the Assam government followed the 1933 demarcation, and that was the point of conflict.
In February 2018, the MZP had built a wooden rest house in a forest, which it claimed was meant to provide a place for farmers to rest. They were demolished by the Assam Police and Forest Department officials saying that it was built on Assamese territory. MZP members had clashed with Assam personnel, who also thrashed a group of Mizoram journalists who had gone to cover the incident.
Where do the governments of Assam and Mizoram stand?
As tense situation prevailed along the disputed Assam-Mizoram border, chief ministers of the two states were locked in a war of words on Monday, blaming each other’s police for the violence, and sought the intervention of the central government. As the two leaders alleged on Twitter, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said he has spoken to his Mizoram counterpart Zoramthanga and his police force will maintain peace.
Zoramthanga accused the Assam Police of lathi-charging and lobbing tear gas shells, while the Assam Police claimed that a large number of “misleaders” from Mizoram were involved in stone-pelting and attacked Assam government officials.
Zoramthanga posted a video of a standoff between Assam Police personnel and a group of lathi-wielding youths on his Twitter handle. “Shri @AmitShah ji….Please look into the matter. This needs to be stopped from now on. #MizoramAssamBorderTension,” he said tagging officials from the Prime Minister’s Office and the Union Home Minister’s office, Sarma and Cachar district of Assam.
In another tweet, Zoramthanga also alleged that “an innocent couple” were “cheated” by “thugs and goons” on their way back to Mizoram via Cachar. “How are you going to justify these violent acts?” He asked.
Assam Chief Minister tweeted: “Hon’ble @ZoramthangaCM ji, Kolasib (Mizoram) SP asking us to step down, till then his citizens will not listen or stop the violence. “How can we run the government in such circumstances? Hope you intervene @AmitShah@PMOIndia at the earliest.” Later, Sarma said he has spoken to his Mizoram counterpart and reiterated that Assam Police will maintain status quo and peace along the border.
The issue was raised in the recent meeting of chief ministers of northeastern states with Home Minister Amit Shah in Shillong. Shah had urged all parties to resolve the border issues urgently and amicably, especially ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Zoramthanga had raised the border issue during the meeting as he informed the Union Home Minister that the border dispute between the states of the region is a heritage issue of the colonial era. Zoramthanga had also said that large tracts of land claimed by Assam to be within its constitutional limits have been used by the people of Mizoram for collection of forest produce and cultivation for more than 100 years.
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