By Express News Service
GUWAHATI: An India Reserve Battalion (IRB) jawan from Mizoram, arrested by the Assam police in connection with a low-intensity blast on the interstate border, was granted bail by a local court in Assam’s Hailakandi district.
The Mizoram police had sent the officer-in-charge of the state’s Bairabi police station to secure bail for the jawan.
The Hailakandi police said the fresh border tensions, triggered by the explosion and Mizoram’s reconstruction of a bridge on the border area, eased after the jawan was granted bail and Mizoram took back the bridge construction materials on Saturday.
“Mizoram has demonstrated a good gesture by taking back the construction materials. The situation has normalised. It is good for both sides. We can now focus on better things,” Hailakandi Superintendent of Police, Gaurav Upadhyay told this newspaper on Sunday.
The Mizo IRB jawan was arrested from near the blast site soon after the incident two days ago.
“When we had zeroed in on him, he couldn’t explain his presence. So, we arrested him and sent him to judicial custody,” Upadhyay said.
The Assam police made it clear that there would be a reaction to every action on the border.
Trouble started brewing on the interstate border since October 26 when Mizoram started reconstructing a bridge. Assam claims the land, where the bridge was being constructed, falls within its boundary. It had stopped the construction a few weeks ago.
The two states, which share a 164.6-km-long border, have been for long embroiled in a bitter border row. It intensified since October last year. In July this year, the dispute had led to a gunfight between the police forces of the two states. Six Assam police personnel were killed and dozens others, including an SP, injured.
In the aftermath of the incident, the Centre had to intervene, followed by its series of meetings with both sides. The two states had signed a joint declaration on August 5 to find a permanent solution to the issue.