Assam Police camping at places along Mizoram border — Official

Silchar, July 23 (PTI): The Assam Police is camping at two places along the interstate boundary with Mizoram and no resident has left home due to fear of being attacked by people of the neighbouring state, amid tension over the disputed border between the two northeastern states, an officer said.

The police is camping at Khulicherra and Dholakhal, Cachar Superintendent of Police Nimbalkar Vaibhav Chandrakant said.

“Our police forces are camping there at the border and we are continuously monitoring the situation. No instance of civilians leaving their homes in fear has occurred and we have verified the matter”, he said.

The Khulicherra area falls under the jurisdiction of Dholai Police station and senior officers are there, he said. Both the Assam Police and the Mizoram Police are now camping there. As a result, some people have left the place, but it is not due to any threat from the Mizo forces.

“The policemen are doing their best to provide safety and security to the people residing in that locality. We are there to protect people and property of the citizens of Assam…We are fully capable of protecting our border”, Chandrakant said.

Some daily wage earners belonging to the Muslim community were working in the areas owned by Mizoram, the officer said on Thursday, adding that they are residents of Assam as their names are in the voter list of Cachar.

“Some local people belonging to Muslim community were engaged as daily wage earners. The labourers were returning due to the Eid festival with their belongings from their workplace. This was wrongly reported by a section of the media that people have left their homes due to fear of being attacked by residents of the neighbouring state.

“A few residents may have left the place, but that was their personal decisions, he added.

Cachar Deputy Commissioner, Keerthi Jalli visited the border on Wednesday and appealed to the people not to pay heed to the rumours.

This is land of Assam. We are strongly defending our post and rebutting any attempt to encroach on our land. Discussions are on at a higher level and I am sure that a solution will be achieved soon,” he said.

Tension along the interstate border with Mizoram in Cachar and Hailakandi districts of Assam has been escalating in the last few days over Assam Police’s drive to clear land allegedly encroached by miscreants from across the border.

An IED was hurled on an Assam government team visiting the border by suspected miscreants on July 10, while two back-to-back explosions were heard from across the border in the wee hours of July 11.

A high-level meeting between officials of both the states, including the chief secretaries and DGPs, was also held in New Delhi a few days ago on the issue.