Fire And Mob Fury

The violence along the border in Assam’s Cachar, adjacent to Kolasib in Mizoram, is the latest in a series of inter-state border skirmishes in the Northeast where all states have multiple unresolved boundary disputes with their neighbours.

Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and his Mizoram counterpart Zoramthanga were quick to acknowledge the gravity of the situation and sought each other’s help in defusing the tension.

In the latest violence on October 17, several houses and business establishments were also gutted when unidentified people went on a rampage in the area. Both states stake claim to Vairengte-Lailapur. Administrations on both sides blamed each other for the violence. According to Kolasib deputy commissioner H. Lalthangliana, people from Lailapur in Assam broke the status quo and constructed huts in the area. “People from Mizoram went and set fire to them. An agreement between the governments of Assam and Mizoram some years ago says status quo should be maintained on the no man’s land along the border,” Lalthangliana says. On the other hand, Keerthi Jalli, the DC of Cachar, says the contested land belongs to Assam as per state records.

Before this, on October 9, a farmhouse and plantations belonging to Mizo families were set on fire in another place along the border in Assam’s Karimganj and Mizoram’s Mamit district. Karimganj DC Anbamuthan M.P. says the area is within Singla Forest Reserve in the district. But Mamit district DC Lalrozama couldn’t agree—saying Thinghlun village, where the farmhouse and crops were burnt, has been a Mizo settlement all along and Mizos cultivated the land there. He, however, calls the arson and violence “unfortunate” and warns that such flare-ups could jeopardise relations between the two states.

Mizoram and Assam share a 164-km border and several stretches are claimed by both. Dialogues since 1995 have failed to resolve the dispute. Assam has a running row with Nagaland and Meghalaya too ever since these two were hived off the state. Tension along the Arunachal Pradesh border isn’t uncommon either.

Assam CM Sonowal discussed the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah. Officials said Modi has assured appropriate steps to ease tension along the inter-state border. Shah promised support to restore peace.

Mizoram deputy chief whip and ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) MLA Lalrintluanga Sailo added a new twist to the violence, saying that illegal Bangladeshi immigrants who have settled along the Assam-Mizoram border are creating trouble.

“Mizoram is not hostile to Assam or its people but is protecting its territory from infiltration by illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, who are living in the border areas,” says Lalrintluanga who is camping at Vairengte in Kolasib district.

By Abdul Gani in Guwahati