Nirendra Dev
Both the state governments have also agreed to deploy the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) at the disturbed interstate border along the National Highway 306 so that there are no recurring unfortunate incidents.
New Delhi: At the personal intervention of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and after Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla presided over a meeting of Assam Chief Secretary Jishnu Baruah and his Mizoram counterpart Lalnunmawia Chuaungo decided that there should be a deployment of neutral central forces along the disturbed and violence-hit Assam-Mizoram border.
Sources said DGPs from both the states Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta and SBK Singh, besides Director General of CRPF, Kuldiep Singh, also attended the meeting.
Both the Chief Secretaries were summoned to Delhi by the Union Home Ministry after Monday's violence, at the Lailapur-Vairengte disputed site that claimed the lives of five Assam police personnel and leftover 50 people including several civilians injured.
Both the state governments have also agreed to deploy the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) at the disturbed interstate border along the National Highway 306 so that there are no recurring unfortunate incidents.
BJP runs a coalition regime in Assam headed by Himanta Biswa Sarma. At the same time, Mizoram CM Zoramthana is a senior leader of Mizo National Front (MNF), a longtime BJP-ally and part of the saffron-party led NEDA.
Two companies of CRPF, one from 119 Battalion in Assam and the other from 225 Battalion in Mizoram, were already deployed at Lailapur-Vairengte disputed site on Monday evening itself.
“Home Minister Shah also took a special briefing from CRPF top brass and had spoken to both Assam and Mizoram Chief Ministers separately. Both chief ministers have assured the home minister that the needful will be done to ensure peace and resolve the border issue. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also reviewed the developments with top officials and Home Minister Shah. "
In Assam's Barak Valley, Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi districts share 164 km borders with three Mizoram districts — Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Wednesday, "The people of Assam and Mizoram have shared close relations and common interests for decades. Nobody is an enemy of the other. Then why use arms?"
However, the Assam Chief Minister made a crucial reference to the drug business in those areas.
"It might be that some people in Mizoram are annoyed after the Assam government curtailed the drugs trade chain from Myanmar to other parts of India via Mizoram and Assam. The Mizoram government must probe how civilians in Mizoram got arms," he said.
Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga, a former rebel leader himself, also tweeted: "I sincerely request all to stay calm and promote peace in this time of great difficulty. Mizoram hopes for an amicable solution with the
help of intervention from the Central government."
Meanwhile, the Mizoram government has urged the centre to instruct the Assam government to take necessary action for immediate removal of the economic blockade being enforced since Monday, July 27.
In a letter to Union Home Secretary Bhalla, state home secretary Lalbiaksangi said that the National Highway No. 306 is the lifeline of Mizoram.
"The national highways and railway lines are owned and managed by the government of India and no state agency/entity or the general public has any right to block them by restricting the movement of people and goods through the highways and railroads," the letter from Mizoram Home Secretary said.
Assam has border issues with Nagaland, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh as well.
