News Analysis India

Tag: Assam-Mizoram border clashes

  • Mizoram cops file FIR against Assam CM Himanta, 6 senior govt officials

    By Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: The Mizoram Police booked Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, six senior officials and 200 unidentified policemen, holding them responsible for the July 26 violence on the Assam-Mizoram interstate border.

    The FIR was registered on Monday following the skirmishes.The officials include Inspector General of Police Anurag Agarwal, Deputy Inspector General of Police Devojyoti Mukherjee, Cachar District Magistrate Keerthi Jalli, Cachar Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Chandrakant Nimbalkar, Divisional Forest Officer Sunnydeo Choudhury and Dholai police station officer-in-charge Sahab Uddin.In a WT message to the Assam Chief Secretary, the officials were asked to depose before the Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), Vairengte in Kolasib district on August 1. The SDPO is the investigating officer of the case.

  • No curbs on travel to Mizoram, says Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

    By Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the state government had not issued any curbs on people’s travel to Mizoram.“The Assam government has not blocked any road (leading to Mizoram). The road is open. We have only asked the people of Assam to not hurry in travelling to Mizoram. Let us study the situation and when there is peace, people can visit the state,” Sarma told journalists on Friday.He said the Assam Police would register cases against anyone found making provocative statements. They will be dealt with as per law, he said.Stating that Assam has a friendly relationship with Mizoram and other states of the Northeast and the state will protect it, he said, “We will solve the boundary disputes through dialogues but we will never allow if somebody forcibly attempts to take away Assam’s land. If need be, we will make self-sacrifice. We will protect our land.”The Assam government had on Thursday issued a travel advisory, asking the people of the state not to travel to Mizoram.“Even after this (July 26) incident, certain Mizo civil society, students and youth organisations are constantly issuing provocative statements against Assam and its people…“It has been reliably learnt from video footage available with Assam Police that many civilians are heavily armed with automatic weapons etc. In view of the above and with the purpose of ensuring safety and security, a travel advisory is hereby issued to all the people of Assam…“The people are advised not to travel to Mizoram as any threat to personal safety of people of Assam cannot be accepted,” the advisory stated.

  • Do not visit Mizoram: Assam travel advisory for its people

    By Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: Days after the interstate border skirmishes that left six Assam Police personnel dead and dozens others injured, the Assam government on Thursday issued a travel advisory, asking the people of the state not to travel to Mizoram.The government pointed out some recent incidents of border skirmishes along the Mizoram border in Assam’s Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj districts. They together share the 164.6 km border.”Even after this (July 26) incident, certain Mizo civil society, students and youth organisations are constantly issuing provocative statements against Assam and its people…”It has been reliably learnt from video footage available with Assam Police that many civilians are heavily armed with automatic weapons etc. In view of the above and with the purpose of ensuring safety and security, a travel advisory is hereby issued to all the people of Assam…”The people are advised not to travel to Mizoram as any threat to personal safety of people of Assam cannot be accepted,” the advisory issued by MS Manivannan, Commissioner and Secretary, Home and Political Department, read.

    ALSO READ: Economic blockade’ against Mizoram continues, Assam Police team in Delhi to quiz Mizo MP

    The government advised the people of Assam, staying in Mizoram for work-related compulsion, to exercise utmost caution.In an order, the government said it would frisk every vehicle that would enter Assam from Mizoram.”In order to check the trafficking of illicit drugs, it is felt necessary to check all vehicles entering Assam from Mizoram. Such vehicles will be thoroughly checked by Assam Police. These vehicles shall be released only after due satisfaction of an officer, not below the rank of sub-inspector of police, that no illicit drugs are carried in the vehicles,” the order reads.Given the skirmishes and the tense situation that prevails on the interstate border, the government in a circular directed the District Magistrates of Kamrup (Metro) and Cachar to ensure the safety and security of all persons staying at Mizoram Houses in Guwahati and Silchar.The government also asked the other DMs across the state to ensure the safety and security of people from Mizoram in their districts.

  • IPS officer injured in Assam-Mizoram border clashes underwent successful surgery in Mumbai

    By Express News Service
    MUMBAI: The Assam cadre officer Vaibhav Nimbalkar, who was injured in the Assam Mizoram border dispute clash, underwent successful surgery at Kokilaben Hospital in Mumbai.

    According to people close to the 2009 IPS batch officer, he is fine and speedily recovering now. “During the Assam Mizoram border clash, the bullet was pierced in Vaibhav Nimbalkar’s thigh. Then, immediately he was airlifted and brought to Mumbai for further surgery and treatment. After the successful surgery, he is fine and doing well now,” said Sukrit Gumsae relative of Vaibhav Nimbalkar.

    Vaibhav Nimbalkar’s two bodyguards were killed along with the other five cops in the border clashes. He is a resident of Baramati and completed his education in Pune.

    “We are praying for his good health and confident that everything will be fine, he is a fighter. He will come out from this crisis also,” said a relative of Vaibhav Nimbalkar adding since his posting in Assam, Vaibhav has faced some or other challenges because of his work.

    “During his stint in Assam as various districts SP, he busted various drug and mafia rackets. If the area is community sensitive, then he tried to bring two communities together by arranging various programs and functions. If some are socially boycotted, then he Vaibhav will go that boycotted person home and have a cup of tea or break to break the social barriers and show the people that all are equal,” said the person who was close to Nimbalkar.

    He said during his college days also, when Tsunami was struck in the coastal region of south India, he rushed with a local NGO to help the people. “Vaibhav is a die-heart social worker. He was Dy SP at the age of 22 only. In 2020, he was given the gold medal for his outstanding service in the police department. His very posting was challenging in Assam,” he added.

  • Assam-Mizoram border violence: Chief Secretaries, DGPs attend Home Ministry meet

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The chief secretaries and the police heads of Assam and Mizoram attended a meeting Wednesday called by the Union Home Ministry to resolve the ongoing border conflict between the two states which left five policemen and a civilian dead recently.

    Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla chaired the meeting which was attended by Assam Chief Secretary Jishnu Baruah and Director General of Police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta and their respective Mizoram counterparts Lalnunmawia Chuaungo and SBK Singh, officials said.

    ALSO READ | Assam-Mizoram border violence: Chief Secretaries, DGPs attend Home Ministry meet

    “The central government is concerned over the Assam-Mizoram border dispute which led to violence and deaths of six people. The objective of the meeting is to lower the tension, bring peace and possibly find a solution,” a home ministry official said.

    The Director General of CRPF also attended the meeting as the personnel of the paramilitary force have been deployed in the Assam-Mizoram border areas where tension is high, the official said.

    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 Monday.

    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.

    ALSO READ | Assam Police prevents Congress delegation from visiting Mizoram border after violent clashes

    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.

  • Centre calls meeting of top officials as Mizoram, Assam stick to their guns

    By Express News Service
    GUWAHATI:  The Centre has called a meeting of the chief secretaries and DGPs of Assam and Mizoram on Wednesday in the wake of violence, home ministry officials said  on Tuesday. Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla will chair the meeting to discuss the sudden escalation of violence along the Assam-Mizoram border. 

    The meeting of the chief secretaries and Directors General of Police is expected to work on a peace formula so that there is no repeat of the violence along the border of the two states, a home ministry official said.

    Officials said that the central government is in regular touch with the Assam and Mizoram governments and trying to calm down the situation.  They further said that CRPF has been deployed in the violence-hit area. The chief ministers of the two states, however, stuck to their guns on Tuesday, refusing to back down from their respective stand. 

    While narrating the events leading up to Monday’s violence that left five Assam police personnel dead and over 70 others injured, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Mizoram counterpart Zoramthanga played to their local galleries and hurled accusation at each other. 

    Sarma said the Assam government recently received inputs about Mizo activities inside an Assam reserve forest. He said satellite images showed Mizoram was building a road and erecting structures. He said during a subsequent inspection, a Mizoram Police post was also spotted. Zoramthanga blamed the Assam government for the incident

  • Assam-Mizoram clash: ‘All eyes on Amit Shah who visited northeast few days back,’ says Derek O’Brien

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: Attacking the central government over the border clashes between Assam and Mizoram, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Derek O’Brien on Tuesday said all eyes are on the Union Home Minister Amit Shah who was in the northeast a few days ago.

    “All eyes on the Home Minister, who was in the North-east a few days ago. His incompetence being exposed one day at a time,” tweeted O’Brien.

    He also retweeted TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee’s tweet targeting the Bharatiya Janta Party over the issue.

    “Shocked and Stunned to hear about the ruthless violence that has transpired at the Assam-Mizoram Border. My condolences to the bereaved families. Such unremitting incidents under BJPs watch have invited the death of democracy in our nation. INDIA DESERVES BETTER,” tweeted Banerjee.

    The border clash between the two states claimed five lives while many police personnel and a few locals have also been injured in the clashes, said reports.

    In view of border tensions with Mizoram, the Assam government on Monday urged the neighbouring state to restrain its “people and Police personnel” from indulging in “wanton violence” and work towards restoring peace.

    “It is with a heavy heart that we are constrained to note that what is being termed by the Mizoram side as an intrusion and aggression by Assam has left 5 Assam Police personnel confirmed dead (6 as per initial reports, which is being confirmed) and more than 50 injured, including SP Cachar Vaibhav Nimbalkar, who has a bullet embedded in his leg and is in the ICU,” said the Assam government.