A tense situation prevails over the much-contested Assam–Mizoram border along the Hailakandi-Kolasib districts, with security forces of both the states deployed on either side of the boundary since Wednesday. Following the dispute, chief secretary-level talks between both the states is scheduled for July 9. On June 29, the Assam Police dismantled a makeshift hutment built by Mizoram, allegedly in forest land located inside the territory of the Hailakandi district. Mizoram’s three districts — Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit — share about a 164.6-km-long border with Assam's Barak Valley districts: Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi districts. Much of the border cuts through through thick forested slopes. “The forest officials informed us about the construction of the hut as well as plantations in the area, which falls under the Matijuri range of the Hailakandi forest division, so we took it down,” said Ramandeep Kaur, Superintendent of Police, Hailakandi. Following that, several Mizo organisations in Kolasib claimed the hutment and plantations were part of Mizoram's territory, and a scuffle broke out between the forces of the two states. On June 30, talks were held between the deputy commissioners and superintendents of police from both the states to defuse the situation and both parties came to a mutual agreement on the issue. However, Mizoram alleged that on July 1, the Assam Police destroyed two police camps they had constructed on their side of the border. “We discussed with each other and came to an agreement but the next day some of our police camps were destroyed by Assam Police,” Kolasib Deputy Commissioner H Lalthangliana said. According to Assam officials, the police camps were constructed by Mizoram on hillocks on Assam’s side of the boundary on the night of July 1, post the talks. Officials from the two sides resumed talks again at the border and following that both have deployed security forces in the area. “The situation is under control but it is an eyeball to eyeball kind of stand-off, and tense,” said a senior police official from Assam. The boundary dispute between the two states has been simmering since the formation of Mizoram as a separate state in the 1980s. However, in the recent past there have been several instances (February 2018, October 2020) of clashes at the border. The dispute stems from demarcation of the border done on two different dates. While Mizoram believes the boundary should be demarcated on the basis of the 1875 notification (that differentiated Lushai Hills — what Mizoram was called when it was a district of Assam — from the plains of Cachar), Assam follows the 1933 notification that demarcates a boundary between Lushai Hills and Manipur. On Saturday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said he wrote to Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga about the issue. He said that satellite imagery should be used to maintain the status quo at the border.
