Assam-Mizoram border conflict worsens, both CMs urge Amit Shah to intervene

Both Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga sought Union Home Minister Amit Shah's intervention to solve the dispute.

Shah was on a two-day visit to Meghalaya during the weekend where he held a closed-door meeting with chief ministers of the northeast states on inter-state border issues.

Amid worsening situation, two chief ministers got involved in a heated exchange of words in social media with Mizoram CM Zoramthanga on Twitter showing police trying to stop a clash among men armed with sticks.

In reply to the tweet, Assam Police said miscreants from Mizoram were indulging in stone-pelting and attacking Assam government officials stationed at Lailapur to protect Assam's land from encroachment.

In reply, Sarma shared a clipping and said a superintendent of police from Mizoram was asking Assam’s officials to withdraw from their post, failing which civilians from the neighbouring state would not stop the violence.

He too sought immediate intervention of Shah and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

“How can we run government in such circumstances?” Sarma wrote.

Zoramthanga shared another video with which he wrote that an innocent couple were “manhandled and ransacked by thugs and goons” on their way back to Mizoram via Cachar in Assam.

“How are you going to justify these violent acts?” he wrote.

During the meeting with Shah, Zoramthanga said border disputes in the northeast are a legacy of the colonial era and lasting peace between states is important for further development of the region.