Centre summons CS, DGP of Assam, Mizoram

July 28, 2021 43 Views No Comment

4,000 commandos to be deployed along the border: Sarma

SILCHAR/AIZAWL/NEW DELHI, JUL 28 (PTI/AGENCIES) : A day after the bloody clash at the Assam-Mizoram border between police forces of both states that left five Assam Police personnel dead and 50 others injured; the government of India has summoned the chief secretaries and DGPs of Assam and Mizoram to New Delhi for a meeting on Wednesday.

Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla will chair the meeting to discuss the sudden escalation of violence along the Assam-Mizoram border. The meeting of the chief secretaries and DGPs is expected to work on a peace formula so there is no repeat of such violence, a home ministry official said in New Delhi.

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has reportedly promised to deploy 4000 Assam Police commandos at the Cachar Karimganj and Hailakandi borders sharing the border with Mizoram where recent clashes have taken place.

According to a media Dr Sarma visited Silchar Tuesday to enquire about the health condition of Cachar SP Vaibhav Nimbalkar and other injured police persons who sustained grave injuries during the incident at the Mizoram border on Monday. Dr. Sarma informed that 4000 commandos would be deployed in three companies in the border areas with the view to protect the land of the State and also to ensure security of the civilians.

He further informed that the government will give ex-gratia of Rs 50,00,000 to the kin of the five jawans of Assam police who lost their lives at the interstate border on Monday. The State Government has also arranged for air lifting of injured Cachar SP to Mumbai for better treatment

The Assam chief minister also blew hot and cold, over the issue saying he would abide by any law enacted by Parliament that forces it to even cede its land to another state but till then it will not allow even an “inch to be encroached”.

BJP general secretary and Lok Sabha MP from the state Dilip Saikia demanded that Mizoram tender an apology to the people of Assam for the death of its police personnel.

Mizoram Information and Public Relations Minister Lalruatkima shot right back and claimed CRPF personnel at the border did not restrain armed police personnel and civilians from Assam from intruding into Mizoram despite the tension.

“The bloody clashes could have been averted had CRPF personnel prevented Assam police from entering Mizoram territory,” Lalruatkima told PTI.

The Assam chief minister also told reporters in Silchar that his government will move the Supreme Court seeking protection of Innerline Forest Reserve from destruction and encroachment and deploy three commando battalions in Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi districts bordering Mizoram to strengthen security.

“It is the responsibility of the Centre to define the boundary and we will abide by it…if tomorrow the Parliament enacts a law by which our land can be given to another state, we will do so but till then we will protect our constitutional boundary,” he said after paying floral tributes to the slain personnel. Assam has declared a three-day state mourning after the incident.

“The dispute is not regarding land but encroachment of reserved forests is the issue. We have no settlements in the forest areas and, if Mizoram can give evidence, we will immediately carry out eviction,” he said.

“People have sacrificed their lives but boundary has been protected which we will continue to do at any cost. There is very strong deployment of police inside our border and not an inch of land will be allowed to be encroached,” he asserted.

Assam shares a 164km (about 101 miles) border with Mizoram, and both states contest its demarcation. Mizoram maintained that the boundary should have been demarcated on the basis of the 1875 notification which was derived from the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) Act, 1873.However, the boundary was demarcated without the knowledge and consent of the Mizos in 1933.

The two sides have often sparred over it, sometimes violently. But this was the first time police in the states had fired at each other in a direct confrontation. Three districts in Assam- Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj – share a 164km-long border with three districts of Mizoram.

At the heart of the matter was an “eviction drive” carried out by Assam along a contested part of the border – authorities from the state reportedly burned a farmhouse and crops in the area. The Mizoram government responded by deploying troops in areas which Assam claims is part of its territory.