Assam-Mizoram border dispute: Fault line from history flares up in the present
British tea plantations surfaced in the Cachar plains during the mid-19th century and their expansion led to problems with the Mizos whose home was the Lushai Hills.
In Cachar, at the Assam-Mizoram border on Monday. At the heart of the dispute over the 165-km Assam-Mizoram boundary are two border demarcations that go back to the days of British colonial rule, and disagreement over which demarcation to follow.
British tea plantations surfaced in the Cachar plains – the Barak Valley that now comprises the districts of Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj — during the mid-19th century and their expansion led to problems with the Mizos whose home was the Lushai Hills.
In August 1875, the southern boundary of Cachar district was issued in the Assam Gazette – the Mizos say this was the fifth time the British had drawn the boundary between the Lushai Hills and the Cachar plains, and the only time when it was done in consultation with Mizo chiefs. This also became the basis for the Inner Line Reserve Forest demarcation in the Gazette two years later.
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