E-Paper
Workers attacked with grenades as Assam-Mizoram border dispute festers
Three districts of Assam’s Barak Valley share a 164 km long border with three districts of Mizoram. There have been border disputes between both the states since Mizoram’s formation in 1987
Some unidentified miscreants allegedly lobbed grenades targeting road construction workers in Cachar district in Assam near Mizoram border on Saturday. No one was injured in the incident that took place at Lailapur area under Dholai assembly constituency, police said.
Cachar superintendent of police Vaibhav Chandrakant Nimbalkar confirmed hearing the sound of a blast, while the workers said they were attacked with grenades.
“We were at the inspection of the work when we heard the sound of a blast. We rushed to the area where the workers said some miscreants from Mizoram side threw grenades targeting them. But fortunately, no one was injured. We are going to investigate the matter,” Nimbalkar said.
The incident took place a day after chief secretaries of Mizoram and Assam met in New Delhi on Friday to discuss the ongoing border dispute between both states. The meeting remained inconclusive after Mizoram sought more time on Assam’s proposal to maintain status-quo along the border and withdrawal of security forces from the disputed areas.
Three districts of Assam’s Barak Valley share a 164 km long border with three districts of Mizoram. There have been border disputes between both the states since Mizoram’s formation in 1987. The disputes led to clashes in August last year and February this year.
This is the second time when explosives were used to terrorise people along Assam-Mizoram border. Last year, a primary school on the Assam side of the inter-state border was bombed by miscreants at Upper Painom area in Dholai.
“Some tension is going on along the constitutional boundary between both states. We are always open for discussions and resolutions of our dispute. But don’t encroach our land. As of now, Assam police are working day and night to protect our constitutional boundary,” chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said at Guwahati on Saturday.
According to officials of Cachar district administration, a road is under construction from Dholai’s Dholakhal to Upper Painom area. The Assam government project was getting delayed because of obstructions made by some groups from Mizoram’s side.
When a team of top-level officials visited to enquire about the status of work on Sunday, a group of people including civilians and few armed men in uniform obstructed the team. They warned them not to move further and used abusive language. The local police have confirmed that the incident took place within the territory of Assam on Saturday afternoon. On Saturday, the delegation was stopped at Lailapur area while taking stock of the work.
According to the officials, miscreants from Mizoram side have so far encroached 6.5 kilometers within the territory of Assam. Senior police and administrative officials are leading an eviction process along the border in the three districts of Barak Valley in Assam.
After the grenade blast, locals in large numbers have started leaving the area with their bags and baggage. “This is not the first time that Mizo miscreants have used explosives to terrorise us and capture our land. Security personnel from our district come to visit the area when something happens. But on the other side, armed men in uniform and aggressive locals from Mizoram side continuously stay at the border and encroach on land. We cannot live under such an atmosphere of terror.”
