News Analysis India

Tag: Assam border

  • 157 people died, over 65K displaced in Assam border clashes since 1979: Rights body

    By Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: Rights body Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG) on Tuesday said at least 157 persons died while over 65,729 others were displaced in Assam’s border clashes with Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland from 1979 to July 26 this year.

    In a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Chief Ministers of these states, RRAG director Suhas Chakma said the rising number of deaths called for permanent peace-building measures.

    He said 136 deaths were reported from Assam-Nagaland border, 10 from Assam-Arunachal border, seven from Assam-Mizoram border and four from Assam-Meghalaya border.

    “Altogether 361 persons were injured in the clashes – 184 of them on Assam-Nagaland border, 143 on Assam-Mizoram border, 18 on Assam-Meghalaya border and 16 on Assam-Arunachal border.

    Chakma said the dispute between Assam and Mizoram intensified in 2018 and the injuries to 143 persons indicated the intensity of the clashes.

    “The states usually approach the Supreme Court to resolve disputes but the demarcation of boundaries is an executive task. Therefore, the Supreme Court usually recommends the formation of boundary commissions. However, if any of the states does not accept the recommendations of the commissions, little progress can be made.” Chakma wrote in his letter.

    He said in the past, the recommendations of boundary panels were consistently rejected. He said the issue was never the absence of technology and expertise to draw the boundaries of the states but the absence of a political will.

    “Satellite mapping to demarcate boundaries and settle such disputes as being suggested by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) cannot manufacture the political will over claims on territories based on borders drawn by the colonial British as early as 1835,” Chakma said.

    Asking the CMs to give up one-upmanship, the rights body recommended to the MHA and the state governments in question to maintain the status quo till the disputes were resolved.

  • Assam border standoff: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma defends travel advisory on Mizoram

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said the people of the state should not visit Mizoram till all arms possessed by civilians are seized by the neighbouring government.

    The Assam government had on Thursday issued a first-of-its-kind travel advisory asking its people not to travel to Mizoram and advised those from the state working or staying there to “exercise utmost caution”. The Assam government is monitoring the situation but roads leading to Mizoram are still open, he said.

    “We have requested the people not to visit Mizoram till the situation normalises. Let us study the situation first. We can visit Mizoram when there is peace,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an official programme at Chirang.

    “When there are AK-47 and sniper rifles with civilians, how can you allow people to visit there? The Mizoram government should seize these arms from their civilians. People are apprehensive about this,” Sarma said in an obvious reference to the the bloody clash at the inter-state border on Monday, which claimed the lives of seven persons and left more than 50 people injured.

    ALSO READ| North East MPs Forum appeals to Assam, Mizoram to ensure peace along interstate border

    The chief minister defended the Assam government’s Thursday order which mandated the police to check all vehicles entering the state from Mizoram to stop transportation of narcotics drugs.

    “The drugs coming from international markets enter through Mizoram and then go to the rest of India via Assam. The Mizo people may not be involved in it but lots of drugs are coming through Mizoram. To stop that, we will be checking the vehicles,” he added.

    Sarma said that a CID team of the state police has reached New Delhi to investigate the alleged role of Rajya Sabha MP K Vanlalvena in the gun battle along the inter-state border in Cachar district.

    About the alleged encroachment of Assam land by people of Mizoram, the chief minister said “The Assamese people will be happy that this time not a single inch of land was grabbed. We cannot allow that. If necessary, we will sacrifice our lives but won’t allow our land to be captured.”

    At least six Assam Police personnel and one civilian were killed while defending the “constitutional boundary” of the state with Mizoram in the July 26 clash. The situation currently in and around the area of the clash continues to be tense but calm as a large number of CRPF troops have started patrolling NH-306 which runs between the two states.

    Officials in Assam’s Barak valley said organized blockades on roads leading to Mizoram were lifted and no group is now out on the streets trying to stop trucks or other vehicles. After the fierce gun battle on Monday various groups in the Barak Valley had announced a blockade of Mizoram, which drew sharp protests from the neighbouring state.

    Assam districts Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi share a 164.6 km long border with Mizoram’s three districts – Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit.

    The long-standing dispute between the two states has its origin in a 1875 notification which had differentiated Lushai Hills from the plains of Cachar and another of 1933 that demarcates a boundary between Lushai Hills and Manipur.

    Mizoram insists the inter-state boundary should be demarcated on the basis of the 1875 notification, a corollary to the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) Act, 1873. Its leaders have, however, been arguing against the demarcation notified of 1933, claiming that the Mizo society was not consulted, while Assam wants that notification to be enforced.

  • North East MPs Forum appeals to Assam, Mizoram to ensure peace along interstate border

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The North East MPs Forum on Friday appealed to the governments of Assam and Mizoram to ensure peace and tranquillity along their interstate border, and also urged the people of the region to remain united and live in a sisterly manner.

    In a joint statement, the North East MPs Forum Chairman and Union minister Kiren Rijiju and General Secretary and MP from Shillong Vincent H Pala also appealed to the two states to come together with the honest aim of resolving the long-pending border dispute.

    Five Assam Police personnel and a civilian were killed and over 50 others including a superintendent of police were injured when the Mizoram Police opened fire on a team of the Assam officials last Monday. The forum represents all parliamentarians from the region and takes up various issues concerning the region.

    “At this crucial juncture, on behalf of the Members of Parliament from the Northeast we appeal to both the parties and governments to adopt conciliatory steps to ensure peace and tranquillity along the border,” the statement said.

    Rijiju told PTI that the Northeast must remain together and live in a sisterly manner. The forum said the recent developments along the Assam-Mizoram border have been a cause of great anguish and regret to the people of the Northeast.

    “The loss of life and injury on both sides is a shocking and regrettable consequence, and we wish to extend our condolences to the affected families. At the same time, we must seize the right lessons from this unfortunate occurrence,” it said, and made an earnest appeal to both the states to come together with the honest aim of resolving the dispute.

    “We believe that for this resolution to be fruitful, the amicable participation of all stakeholders is crucial, and we look forward to seeing the restoration of cordial and harmonious neighbourly relations between the two states,” the statement said.

    Assam’s Barak Valley districts of Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi share a 164-km long border with three Mizoram districts of Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit.

    After counter allegations of encroachment of territory over the past few weeks and skirmishes that escalated tensions between the two states, violent clashes were reported along the inter-state border that ended in the death of five Assam Police men and a civilian.

    The incidents came two days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah held talks with the chief ministers of eight northeastern states and underscored the need to resolve lingering border disputes.