News Analysis India

Tag: Assam Mizoram standoff

  • Assam-Mizoram border clash: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma pitches for neutral agency to probe issue

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday questioned the rationale behind the Mizoram government registering an FIR against him and six state officials over the recent border clash when its place of occurrence is within his state’s “constitutional territory”.

    Sarma said he will be “very happy” to join the probe but wondered why is it not being handed over to a “neutral agency”.

    The Mizoram police had lodged an FIR against Sarma and six officials under various charges including those related to attempt to murder and criminal conspiracy at Vairengte police station late on Monday after a gun fight between Mizoram and the Assam police.

    However, the FIR became public on Friday. The clashes, which also involved civilians from the two northeastern states, left six Assam police personnel and a civilian dead. Responding to the development, Sarma tweeted, “Will be very happy to join in any investigation….But why is the case not being handed over to a neutral agency, especially when the place of occurrence is well within the constitutional territory of Assam.”

    Sarma said he has conveyed as much to his Mizoram counterpart Zoramthanga. The four police officials named in the FIR are IGP Anurag Agarwal, Cachar DIG Debojyoti Mukherjee, Cachar SP Vaibhav Chandrakant Nimbalkar and Officer in Charge of Dholai police station Sahabuddin.

    Cachar Deputy Commissioner Keerthi Jalli and Divisional Forest Officer Sunnydeo Choudhury have also been booked under the same charges. The officials have been asked to appear at the police station on August one. Mizoram police have also registered cases against 200 unidentified Assam police personnel.

    Assam Police, too, has issued summonses to six officials of the Mizoram government, including deputy commissioner of Kolasib district H Lalthlangliana and superintendent of police Vanlalfaka Ralte, and ordered them to appear at Dholai police station on August two in connection with the clashes.

    Other officials posted in Kolasib district who have been summoned are — Additional SP David JB, Vairangte Sub-Divisional Officer (Civil) C Lalrempuia, 1st India Reserve Battalion Additional SP Bruce Kibby and Vairangte Sub-divisional Police Officer Thartea Hrangchal.

    An Assam Police team, including officers of the CID, are in New Delhi to take “lawful action” against Rajya Sabha MP K Vanlalvena who in a media interview had reportedly made some statements indicative of his active role in the conspiracy, Special Director General of Police (Law and Order) G P Singh had said earlier.

    Meanwhile, Assam police is also updating a picture gallery of Mizoram police personnel and civilians who allegedly fired at the contingent of the state police on July 26 resulting in casualties. A reward of Rs five lakh has been announced for information that leads to the arrest of “each of the individuals involved in the barbaric killing of the Assam Police personnel on July 26”.

  • Northeast India will always be one: Mizoram CM Zoramthanga

    By PTI
    AIZAWL: Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga said that Northeast India will always be one, amid deadly violence at its border with Assam, which advised its residents to not visit the neighbouring state.

    Zoramthanga also shared on Twitter a notification issued by his government, stating that there will be no restrictions on the movement of non-residents of Mizoram in Kolasib district, which borders Assam’s Cachar district. “#NorthEast India will always be #One,” the chief minister tweeted on Friday.

    Public Notice to all.#NorthEast India will always be #One @prag_newsAssam @DGPAssamPolice @BarakBulletin @dccachar @cacharpolice @mygovassam @diprassam https://t.co/2sHp2HYlHK
    — Zoramthanga (@ZoramthangaCM) July 30, 2021

    Zoramthanga’s comment came a day after the Assam government issued a travel advisory, asking its residents not to travel to Mizoram and those staying there to exercise utmost caution. Meanwhile, the border row continued to simmer as police forces of the two states registered criminal cases over Monday’s violence that left at least seven people from Assam dead and more than 50 people injured.

  • 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.