Assam-Mizoram Border Violence – Free PDF Download

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What has happened?

At least six Assam Police personnel were killed after the old boundary dispute between Assam and Mizoram exploded in violent clashes at a contested border point on Monday.
In October last year, residents of Assam and Mizoram had clashed twice in the space of a week over territory, in which at least eight people were injured and a few huts and small shops were torched.
Home minister Amit Shah on Monday stepped in to restore calm.

Mizoram deputy inspector general of police (northern range) Lalbiakthanga Khiangte said that,
Unidentified persons set fire to eight unoccupied farm huts near Aitlang stream on Sunday around 11:30pm.
However, Assam police claimed that at least half a dozen of its officials were injured in Cachar district after unidentified persons pelted stones at them on Monday.
The locals also alleged that Assam Police personnel were attacked with sticks and rods at Lailapur

Mizoram CM Zoramthanga alleged that the government of Assam ‘intruded’ into Mizoram’s territory and showed ‘aggression’.
“The Government of Mizoram desires that the inter-state border issue with Assam be resolved in an atmosphere of peace and understanding.”
Both the chief minister had met last week at an event where all chief ministers of northeastern states had convened.

This isn’t a one-off incident. It is a dispute that has gone on for over 100 years now. At the heart of the issue is the 164.6-km border that separates Assam and Mizoram.
Three districts of Assam — Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj — share a border with Kolasib, Mamit and Aizawl districts in Mizoram.
The Northeastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971, led to three new states being carved out of Assam in the region, namely Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura.
Along with these, the Union Territories of Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh were created.

In the Northeast’s complex boundary equations, showdowns between Assam and Mizoram residents are less frequent than they are between, say, Assam and Nagaland
Nevertheless, the boundary between present-day Assam and Mizoram, 165 km long today, dates back to the colonial era, when Mizoram was known as Lushai Hills, a district of Assam.
The dispute stems from a notification of 1875 that differentiated the Lushai Hills from the plains of Cachar, and another of 1933, that demarcates a boundary between the Lushai Hills and Manipur.
Mizoram believes the boundary should be demarcated on the basis of the 1875 notification.
Mizo leaders have argued in the past against the demarcation notified in 1933 because Mizo society was not consulted.
The Assam government follows the 1933 demarcation, and that was the point of conflict.

Mizoram was made a state in 1987 following the Mizo peace accord signed between the Mizos and the Union government.
While the basis for the state was the 1933 agreement, the Mizos insist that the earlier border is what they accept.
There have been constant clashes along the border.

Assam and Mizoram have signed an agreement under which status quo is to be maintained in no-man’s land, or the border area.
That, however, hasn’t brought an end to the disputes.
In 2020, the Centre had to step in to resolve an impasse after border clashes led to an unofficial road blockade of Mizoram’s lifeline, National Highway 306.
A land-locked state, Mizoram depends on this road for supplies from the rest of the country.

Q) Which of the following statements are correct?