- Monday, April 29, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE ongoing border tension between the northeastern Indian states of Assam and Mizoram turned has worse as the police in Mizoram has registered a first information report (FIR) against Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and six top officials of the state on charges of attempt to murder and assault.
Around 200 unidentified police personnel have also been booked.
The case was filed at the Vairengte police station in Mizoram’s Kolasib district bordering Assam by a local police inspector H Lalchawimawia. The district, which borders Assam’s Cachar district, witnessed violent clashes on Monday (26) in which six personnel of Assam Police were killed.
Assam-Mizoram border clash: What’s the issue?
The senior officers who have been named in the FIR are inspector-general of Assam Police Anurag Aggarwal, deputy inspector general of Cachar Devojyoti Mukherjee, Cachar superintendent of police Nimbalkar, officer-in-charge of Dholai police station in Cachar district Sahab Uddin, divisional forest officer of Cachar Sunnydeo Choudhury and Cachar divisional commissioner Keerthi Jalli.
‘Mizoram civilians carrying AK-47s, sniper guns’
The Assamese side has not been silent either. The state police has issued summons to a Rajya Sabha member from Mizoram along with a deputy commissioner and a superintendent of police for their alleged role in the violence. The state has also issued a travel advisory to its citizens against going to Mizoram and Sarma even alleged that the residents of Mizoram were carrying modern guns that could be dangerous in the current situation. Mizoram strongly condemned the move with its chief minister Zoramthanga saying “Northeast India will always be one”.
According to the FIR registered against the chief minister of Assam and the other officials, they “forcefully tried to occupy” a police camp in Mizoram “stating that it is an encroachment on the forest land”. The Assam Police countered saying they were there to set up a post and the action was undertaken on the “instructions of the CM of Assam”.
The FIR also accused Assam Police personnel of lathi-charging and using tear gas and smoke shells against the residents of Vairengte who had gathered in the area, according to Indian media source ThePrint.
Assam shares a border with Mizoram running around 165 kilometres and the current dispute is an old one, dating back several decades.
