Border conflict between Assam and Mizoram resolved after Amit Shah intervened: Report

The border conflict between Assam and Mizoram appears to have been settled after Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to the Chief Ministers of both states on Monday, July 26, and asked them to resolve the crisis. According to sources, the two chief ministers have agreed to Shah's request, and both states' police personnel have now returned to the disputed spot.

In a telephonic chat, the Home Minister assessed the conflict's position and urged the two states' chief ministers to maintain peace and normalcy.

Amit Shah intervenes in Assam Mizoram border dispute

Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma engaged in a verbal battle, with the former urging Home Minister Shah to check into the problem and put a stop to the crisis as soon as possible.

Shah held a closed-door meeting with chief ministers from northeast states during his two-day visit to Meghalaya last weekend.  On Twitter, Zoramthanga released a clip of police trying to stop a fight between men armed with sticks.  Assam Police responded to the tweet by claiming that miscreants from Mizoram were stone-pelting and attacking Assam government officers stationed at Lailapur to preserve the state's territory from encroachment.

In response, Sarma tweeted a clip in which a Mizoram superintendent of police asked Assam personnel to leave their posts, failing which people from the neighbouring state would not halt the violence. He, too, requested Shah's and the Prime Minister's Office's (PMO) quick involvement. "How can we run a government in such circumstances?" Sarma wrote.

Soon after, Zoramthanga wrote to Sarma, "After a cordial meeting of CMs (chaired) by Shah, two companies of Assam Police with civilians lathi-charged and tear-gassed civilians at Vairengte Auto Rickshaw stand inside Mizoram today. They even overrun CRPF personnel/Mizoram Police."

On their visit back to Mizoram via Cachar in Assam, an innocent couple was "manhandled and ransacked by thugs and goons," according to Zoramthanga. "How are you going to justify these violent acts?" he wrote. Border issues in the northeast, according to Zoramthanga, are a relic of the colonial era, and enduring peace between governments is critical for the region's future development.

Assam Mizoram border dispute

Zoramthanga, speaking at the CM's meeting hosted by Shah in Shillong on Saturday over the border issue with Assam, said the region claimed by the latter had been used by people from Mizoram for over 100 years.
"The border disputes are a legacy of the colonial era that the present government inherited from its predecessor which has been left unresolved at the time of the formation of states like Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram," he noted.

He stated, "The large tract of areas claimed by Assam to be within its constitutional boundary has been used for collection of forest producers and for shifting and settled cultivation for the past 100 plus years by the people of Mizoram, and that Assam started claiming these areas only fairly recently due to population pressure apparently caused by the large-scale influx of migrants from outside Barak valley."

In addition, Zoramthanga appealed that the Assam government respect and honour the situation on the ground and refrain from disrupting the calm environment.

(with inputs from ANI)

Picture Credit: PTI