Assam-Mizoram border issue: Stranded trucks likely to resume movement on Friday

However, officials of the two states had said that movement of trucks carrying essential items had resumed a day after Assam and Mizoram had agreed to restore peace and normalcy on the inter-state boundary on October 21. Mizoram Chief Secretary Lalnunmawia Chuaungo said at Thursday's meeting that a few policemen were deployed in the border area to instil confidence among the people and avoid any untoward incident.


PTI | Aizawl | Updated: 30-10-2020 18:07 IST | Created: 30-10-2020 17:25 IST
Assam-Mizoram border issue: Stranded trucks likely to resume movement on Friday
Representative image Image Credit: PR Newswire
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Movement of trucks between Assam and Mizoram is likely to resume on Friday, a day after the issue of road bloackade put up by locals at Lailapur in Assam on National Highway 306 was raised at a high-level meeting, an official statement said here on Friday. The matter was discussed at a virtual meeting of the chief secretaries of Mizoram and Assam which was presided over by Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla on Thursday, the statement said.

However, a district administration official stationed at Vairengte, 130 km from Aizawl, said that no truck has entered Mizoram till Friday afternoon. Bhalla had urged both the chief secretaries to withdraw forces from their respective border areas to restore peace among the people living there.

Reports said that the locals of Lailapur and surrounding villages in Assam's Cachar district had erected the blockade on NH-306, linking the two states, because Mizoram had "refused" to withdraw its forces from the border areas. Several people were injured in a clash that occurred between the people of the two states, during which several makeshift huts were torched on October 17.

Earlier too, trucks had been stranded on both sides of the border after the October 17 clash. However, officials of the two states had said that movement of trucks carrying essential items had resumed a day after Assam and Mizoram had agreed to restore peace and normalcy on the inter-state boundary on October 21.

Mizoram Chief Secretary Lalnunmawia Chuaungo said at Thursday's meeting that a few policemen were deployed in the border area to instil confidence among the people and avoid any untoward incident. "Therefore, withdrawing them from the disputed areas is technically unthinkable and not possible as long as local residents on the other side of the border are carrying out activities, which could harm public harmony and create panic," the statement said.

As a confidence-building measure, the Mizoram government had already withdrawn its forces from near Lailapur village as per the decision of the meeting convened by Union Home additional secretary (Northeast) Satyendra Garg after the flare-up near Vairengte village on October 17, the chief secretary said. It was decided at the meeting that the disputed areas should not be visited by any official from either side without the knowledge of the district administrations concerned.

It was also agreed upon that meetings at the district administration level should be held regularly for better coordination, the statement said. Meanwhile Mizoram Home Minister Lalchamliana has said that the government would not withdraw its forces from the state border with Assam till normalcy returns.

The Home minister said that the Mizoram government accepted the demarcation notified in 1875 under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) of 1873 as the actual boundary of Mizoram and Assam. It was a historical boundary of the state which has been accepted since the forefathers of Mizos, he said.

Mizoram shares a 164.6-km border with Assam. Several dialogues held since 1995 to resolve the boundary problem have yielded little results.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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