News Analysis India

Tag: Mizoram Assam Border dispute

  • Mizoram partly halts construction at Assam border after Centre’s directive

    By PTI

    AIZAWL: The Mizoram government has partly halted construction activities along the border with Assam, following the Centre’s directive to maintain a status quo at the inter-state boundary, a senior Home Department official said on Friday.

    The Mizoram government has been constructing roads and bridges in order to link police duty posts and camps in the border areas after the July standoff, which led to the death of seven people.

    The senior official told PTI that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) sent a letter to the Mizoram government on November 6, directing it to maintain the status quo at the disputed areas along the inter-state border.

    Following the Centre’s directive, the state Home Department asked district administrations to maintain the status quo at the disputed areas and refrain from undertaking construction activities without mutual consent, he said.

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

    State Home Minister Lalchamliana said his government would undertake activities in the border areas on the Mizoram side as per requirement.

    The state police will continue to be deployed in the border areas to prevent untoward incidents and allay fears among people, he said.

    Kolasib deputy commissioner H Lalthlangliana claimed that construction activities were carried out within Mizoram’s territory as they respect status quo.

    “Construction activities are partly going on in some border areas within Mizoram side. Mizoram has never constructed roads or other structures inside Assam or on disputed areas,” he told PTI.

    The border dispute between the two Northeastern states is a long-standing issue, which stemmed from two demarcations during the colonial period.

  • Mizoram claims Assam police ‘kidnapped’ construction worker from disputed border

    By PTI

    AIZAWL: Mizoram on Thursday accused Assam police of assaulting and kidnapping a civilian construction worker from the disputed border between the two states which had earlier seen a shoot-out between their police forces in July.

    In a letter written to his counterpart in Assam’s Hailakandi district, Mizoram’s Kolasib Deputy Commissioner H. Lalthlangliana alleged that one Lalnarammawia, operator of an earth excavator was blindfolded and kidnapped at gunpoint by Assam Police personnel in commando fatigues from Aitlang area, a few kilometres from Mizoram’s Vairengte village.

    The incident occurred on Thursday afternoon when Lalnarammawia and others were working at a road construction site, the letter said.

    An excavator had been hired by farmers for road construction.

    Assam police went to the spot, disrupted construction work and damaged the earth excavator, the letter alleged.

    “Policemen also snatched the excavator’s key from the operator, who was blindfolded and kidnapped, the Mizoram official alleged. “The JCB operator was blindfolded and kidnapped with a gun pointed at his head by Assam Police wearing a Commando uniform. He was then dragged to the river and threatened. His mobile phone along with JCB keys were taken by the Assam Police,” the letter claimed.

    Terming the incident as serious and setback to the recent peace initiative, Lalthlangliana cautioned that it could further the situation, already tense as both states have deployed large numbers of armed policemen there.

    The Kolasib DC urged his Hailakandi counterpart to intervene and take necessary action against those involved in the “kidnapping”.

    He also urged Assam officials to return the items allegedly taken away by Assam police to the earth excavator operator at the earliest.

    After simmering tensions for several months over a border dispute, at least six Assam Police personnel and one civilian were killed and more than 50 people injured in a fire-fight between the police of the two states on July 26.

    The two states share a 164.6-km border between Assam’s Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj districts, and Mizoram’s Kolasib, Mamit and Aizawl districts.

    Both states have differing interpretations of their territorial border.

    While Mizoram believes that its border lies along an ‘inner line’ drawn up in 1875 to protect tribals from outside influence, Assam goes by a district demarcation done in 1933.