6 Assam cops die as tension along Assam-Mizoram border escalates

New Delhi, July 26

Tension prevailed along the disputed Assam-Mizoram border on Monday following clashes even as the CMs of both states were locked in a Twitter war, blaming each other’s police for the violence. While Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said six Assam Police personnel were killed in firing by miscreants from Mizoram along inter-state border in Cachar district, Mizoram CM Zoramthanga accused the Assam Police of resorting to a lathi-charge and lobbing tear gas shells. “I am deeply pained to inform that six brave jawans of @assampolice have sacrificed their lives while defending Constitutional boundary of our state at the Assam-Mizoram border,” Sarma tweeted.

TERRITORIAL DISPUTE

• Assam’s Barak Valley Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi districts share a 164-km-long border with Mizoram’s Aizwal, Kolasib & Mamit districts
• There were clashes along the inter-state border in Aug 2020, Feb 2021
• While the BJP is in power in Assam, the MNF, a constituent of the BJP-led North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), is ruling in Mizoram

Mizoram Deputy IGP (Northern Range) Lalbiakthanga Khiangte said at least eight unoccupied huts near the Aitlang stream were torched late Sunday night. These belonged to farmers from Vairengte, the nearest border village from Assam. Locals on the Assam side alleged that miscreants armed with sticks, rods and rifles attacked Assam cops at Lailapur. Zoramthanga alleged that “an innocent couple” on their way back to Mizoram via Cachar was “manhandled by thugs and goons”.

The Assam Police countered the charges in a tweet. — TNS