Assam border police on high alert as 2 more blasts occur in neighbouring Mizoram

Two back-to-back explosions occurred at the inter-state border on the side of the neighbouring state on Sunday, July 11, a day after a suspected IED blast was carried out within Assam's Cachar district by miscreants from Mizoram during an eviction campaign, according to Assam police. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has written to Zoramthanga, the Chief Minister of Mizoram, concerning the incidents that transpired a few days after a high-level conference involving top officials from both states, was conducted in New Delhi.

Two more blasts occur on the Assam-Mizoram border 

Tensions are high in the district's Khulicherra area, where Mizoram residents reportedly crossed into Assam land for up to 6.5 kilometres a few days ago, prompting an eviction effort by the Assam Police and civil administration.

"Two blast sounds were heard coming from the Mizoram side at 2.40 am and 2.43 am. The CRPF, which is a neutral force deployed at Khulicherra Point-II, has been asked to enquire into the suspected blasts on the Mizoram side," said an Assam Police source. The situation is currently normal, however, tensions remain high, and Assam Police personnel are on high alert throughout the border area, he added.

Harmeet Singh, Assam's Additional Director General of Police (Border), is camping at the scene.

An explosion targeted a group of Assam government officials, including senior police officers, who were on their way to inspect the construction of a road along the border on Saturday, but no one was injured. Initially, it was thought to be a grenade attack, but authorities eventually accused the perpetrators of using an IED, according to the source. On the other hand, the Mizoram Chief Minister retweeted a report claiming that no grenade was thrown in the vicinity on Saturday and that the sound was the bursting of an excavator tyre.

He added, "For complete peace, we should hand over the inter-state border to central police forces after we fix the border issue. We are building roads within the Constitutional boundary of Assam. We will not take an inch of land from Mizoram."

Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has written to Zoramthanga, requesting that the boundary dispute be resolved through satellite mapping of the exact border locations.

Assam DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta tweeted, "A border issue dialogue with Mizoram CS L Chuanga & DGP SBK Singh was recently held in Delhi. Assam was represented by Chief Secretary Shri Jishnu Baruah & us. The goal was to bring about an amicable solution to the festering border issues."

"While we display great restraint on the ground, I request our Mizo brethren not to attack people or officials or bomb schools and such in Assam. @assampolice stands to help the Forest and District Authorities protect the constitutional boundaries of the state," he said in the tweet on Sunday.

In that area, as well as adjacent areas in the Barak valley's Cachar, Hailakandi, and Karimganj districts, Assam and Mizoram have had a long border dispute. According to a senior police official, the latest tussle began on Saturday when around 25- 30 people from Mizoram came up to 25 metres ahead of the Khulicherra CRPF camp and attempted to encroach on the land inside Assam, attempting to halt forest track clearing work and prevent PWD officials from constructing a road.

Assam-Mizoram border row

An official stated, "On receiving the information, the police rushed to the spot and observed that Mizo people, including women, obstructed the route at Khulicherra leading towards Upper Painom LP school which is around 6.5 kilometres inside Assam- Mizoram border. The crowd swelled up to 50-60 civilians. Around the same time, one Additional SP rank officer of the Mizoram Police arrived at the spot and he was asked to remove the illegal encroachment by Mizo people. However, the obstruction was not removed."

He stated that Assam Police personnel then announced over loudspeakers that their gathering inside Assam territory was illegal and that they should disperse peacefully, but that they remained hostile.

The official also mentioned, "They had also erected wooden barricades, preventing legitimate movement. After the persuasion attempts were not responded positively, Assam Police personnel moved ahead to clear the encroached land using minimum force. As a result, the encroachment up to the first bridge over Dholakhal Khulicherra stream was cleared and a temporary camp has been set up."

He claimed that the superintendent of police and additional superintendents of police from the Kolasib district on the opposite side of the border were summoned for a meeting and told to stop the intrusions, but that they did not do so on the ground. According to him, the Mizoram police have also built up a makeshift camp on the other side of the bridge.

Last year, miscreants from Mizoram allegedly bombed a school in upper Painam, severely destroying it.  Mizoram and Assam have a 164.6-kilometre boundary.  Until 1972, when it was separated from Assam as a Union Territory, the northeastern state was a part of Assam.  Following the historic Mizoram Accord between the erstwhile underground Mizo National Front (MNF) and the Centre, which ended 20 years of insurgency in the state, Mizoram became India's 23rd state on February 20, 1987.

(with inputs from PTI)

Picture Credit: PTI