Assam : For the first time since confrontations along the Assam-Mizoram border nearly a week ago, the two states’ chief ministers attempted to defuse tensions between their people and security forces.
While the Mizoram government said, it would drop the FIR against the Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Sharma tweeted that he had ordered the police to drop the FIR against K Vanlalvena, a Mizoram Rajya Sabha MP who had allegedly made threatening statements about the border violence issue.
Blockade of Vehicles
Medical supplies, including COVID-19 test kits, are being barred from entering Mizoram from Assam due to the implementation of a blockade in the Barak Valley region after the border conflict, according to Mizoram Health Minister R Lalthangliana. Assam denies the claims unequivocally and reaffirms their intention on cooperating to resolve the issue.
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Mizoram, one of the most afflicted states in the country, is now fighting the second wave of the epidemic. According to Lalthangliana, trucks carrying COVID-19-related items such as test kits and medications were stuck on NH-306 in Assam’s Cachar district.
The Mizoram Chemist and Drugs Association recently wrote to the state chief secretary, requesting that the government intervene to allow shipments from Assam to resume. According to the organization, the Assam government, citing security concerns, verbally directed all carriers in Guwahati not to schedule items, including medications, for shipment to Mizoram on July 29. According to the letter, even courier firms have been banned from booking mail and goods.
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Clashes
Due to a rapid escalation of a border dispute, violence erupted on the borders of the north-eastern states of Assam and Mizoram on July 26. When Assam and Mizoram police officers reportedly opened fire, five Assam police officers were killed, and at least 60 others were wounded.
The root cause of Dispute
Mizoram was once known as Lushai Hills and was a part of Assam. In 1972, it was designated as a Union territory, and in 1987, it was designated as a state. Three Assam districts – Karimganj, Hailakandi, and Cachar, share a 164-kilometer border with three Mizoram districts – Kolasib, Aizawl, and Mamit. The border runs through a wooded area and is challenged by both states at several locations.
Assam and Mizoram accuse each other of encroaching on each other’s territory. Two notices on the delineation of the border between the two nations were made during the British administration. One in 1875 and the other in 1933 – are at the core of the controversy. The Mizos refuse to acknowledge the 1933 notice, claiming that their elders were not consulted before it was issued, whereas Assam believes in the 1933 borders and wants Mizoram to follow that.
