–Kakali Das |
Assam-Mizoram boundary dispute has been flaring up since decades. Assam and Mizoram share a boundary spanning an area of 164.6 km. Residents of Lailapur village in Assam’s Cachar district clashed with residents of localities near Vairengte in Mizoram’s Kolasib district. On 26th July, 6 Assam Police Personnel lost their lives, while around 80 injured in the firing between the police of the two States. Tensions escalated after clashes erupted between police on either side of a contentious border point. In a press statement, the government of Assam said that Mizoram began constructing a road towards Rengti Basti in Assam, destroying the Inner Line Reserve Forest in Lailapur area, simultaneously setting up a new armed camp on a hillock next to the camp of the neutral force, CRPF, in the same vicinity. In an attempt to diffuse the situation and resolve matters, a team of Assam officials including, an IGP, DIG, DC Cachar, SP Cachar and DFO Cachar went to the area to request the Mizoram side not to disturb the status quo. As a result, they were surrounded and attacked by a mob of miscreants from the Mizoram side, which resulted in the dispute, claiming lives.
What is the Assam-Mizoram Dispute all about?
To the uninformed, Assam shares its border with 6 north-eastern states and West Bengal. After Independence (1947), Mizoram (then Lushai Hills) was part of Assam till 1972. In 1972, Mizoram was carved out of Assam, and made a union territory, followed by a state (53rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1986) in February, 1987. Since Mizoram’s separation from Assam, there has been a border dispute. Three districts of Mizoram – Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit – share borders with south Assam’s Barak Valley region – Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj districts. There has been a long border dispute between Assam and Mizoram in those areas.
The Mizo Stand – Mizoram says that the border should be marked according to the 1875 notification, derived from the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) Act, 1873. This notification demarcates the boundary between Lushai Hills from the plains of Cachar. Since according to this agreement, Mizoram gets hold of a few more acres of land or bigger territory than Assam, the Mizoram government accepted this notification.
The Assamese Stand- Thereafter, another notification came in which considerably pushed back that boundary to what Assam accepts now.Assam follows the 1933 notification which demarcates a boundary between Lushai Hills and Manipur. This notification provides Assam a bigger territory than Mizoram.
The Mizo government, however, doesn’t accept the 1933 notification, since it was demarcated by the Survey of India without consulting with the Mizo society about it.
Comprehending the current dispute. Questions!
Apparently, this is one of the rarest instances where a nation’s own security force is killing each other. Amidst the eruption of war of words that took place in between the two Chief Ministers of the two states, blaming and mudslinging each other for the dispute, there were various questions being raised amongst the citizens. The conflict arose merely 48 hours after the Home Minister, Amit Shah held a closed-door meeting with the chief ministers, chief secretaries, and police chiefs of Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh which have border disputes with Assam. Besides, simultaneously on that very day, according to Meghalaya officials, a large posse of Assam government officials and senior police officers dismantled an electric post belonging to Meghalaya Energy Corporation Ltd which was put up years ago to light up the villages in the Meghalaya side of the border, resulting in aggressive protests by locals. However, a timely response by the Ri-Bhoi additional district magistrate, the Superintendent of Police and senior police officials who arrived at the spot helped defuse the situation.
Eruption of two concurrent border disputes! Is it a coincidence or an intentional, calculated attempts?
“I haven’t, in the four decades that I have worked as a police officer, seen or heard two states police firing on each other ever,” Yashovardhan Azad, Former IPS Officer said.
For a moment, it seemed as if there were clashes that transpired on the international border, probably with Pakistan or Bangladesh or China. It came as a rude awakener to suddenly realize that it was the two states of the Indian union which waged war against each other, and this took place barely 48 hours after the union home minister, Amit Shah’s assertion that henceforth there would be no disputes of any kind in between the north-eastern states. Then, what is it that happened in these few hours that things took south so badly? It also begs the question as to how this dispute, which has persisted for decades, have suddenly become this violent with the involvement of the police in it?
“Did Amit Shah give a private missive to the Assam CM to begin resolving the boundary disputes through confrontation? How else should trouble erupt at Vairangte in the Assam Mizoram border and at Ri-Bhoi district in the Assam-Meghalaya border?” Patricia Mukhim, Editor, The Shillong Times asked.
The Home Ministry has submitted a statement before the Parliament saying that the central government’s job is only to facilitate, and it will need these state governments to unite for a dialogue in order to find a solution. This, evidently, is a very soft and dull response to the seriousness of what the situation currently is. The way 6 policemen died is unforgivable, and if this had happened in an international border, the whole country would be up in arms. Why is it that we seem to be somehow reacting to our own inter-state border clashes in a softer fashion? When will politics with human lives end?
Given that these states are BJP-led, I wonder if one of these states was ruled by a party which was not cordial with the BJP, what would have been the reaction of the central government, and the BJP! Besides, there are state borders which have been feuding with each other for decades such as, Assam-Arunachal Pradesh, Assam-Meghalaya, Assam-Nagaland, Maharashtra-Karnataka etc. in terms of territorial issues, problems over water and many more, but for the state police to pull their triggers on each other is unprecedented. This dispute hasn’t sprung overnight; the trouble has been brewing up for over a month. The officials could have been conscious of this fact, should have taken an appropriate step. Those in powers who issue orders need to be cautious of the kind of effect that their posturing or rhetoric has. The police can’t fire merely because their fingers start itching. Who ordered the police to pull their triggers?
“I can certainly say that the firing by state police can’t be done without the orders of the seniors, and that too in such a sensitive border. Obviously, the senior officers have given the orders of the fire,” Yashovardhan Azad, Former IPS Officer further said.
Besides, under article 131, it is the honourable Supreme Court which passes the decision for resolving the interstate disputes. So, why didn’t any of the governments for several decades go to the Supreme Court and resolve the border disputes? The Home Minister, at least in an attempt of ‘seriously’ resolving the border dispute, should have made certain to push this case to the supreme court. The Assam CM said that he would bring this encroachment problem to the Supreme Court, but shouldn’t he bring the entire border dispute to the SC and solve it once and for all? A judicial enquiry is crucial in this regard.
The central government should have played a larger role; the central forces should have been more active. Whenever a state is formed out of a state, it is by an act of parliament, and the government of India decides whether the state is to be formed. But in case of the north-eastern states like, Assam-Nagaland, Assam-Mizoram, Assam-Arunachal Pradesh, as per the standard policy of the central government, it asked the states to discuss and solve the disputes between each other. It was the Chief Minister of Assam, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma who went on record last week saying that in the course of the meeting of the union Home Minister with the north-eastern Chief Ministers, he would conduct meetings on the side-lines with his other counterparts, but wouldn’t discuss Assam-Nagaland border dispute since it is a sub judice matter pending before the Supreme Court. He also went on record saying that the situation is not conducive in the Assam-Mizoram border for holding any bilateral dialogue. So, when a chief minister went on record saying that he would walk the talk, the Union Home Minister on his arrival to Shillong should have initiated to make both the chief ministers sit across the table and discuss border disputes. Moreover, the statement of the Assam Chief Minister came close after the meetings at a bureaucratic level held in New Delhi, convened by the Union Home Secretary, which failed to work out any working mechanism for diffusing or de-escalating the tension in between the two states. The Senator, even then, left the issues for the states to resolve!
Moreover, as far as the role of the Police is concerned, Yashovardhan Azad, the former IPS Officer said that it was the duty of the Deputy Commissioners from both the sides to look after the border by frequently meeting and ensuring peace in the border. The immediate precipitation of law and order is the job of the Deputy Commissioner to ensure that nothing flares up in the border, and the Superintendent of Police to make certain that no precipitate action like firing takes place.
Tussles in the past in between the states isn’t exceptional, but never a short fire across borders in the same manner as Assam-Mizoram. What went wrong is the lack of Sebastian wisdom in the part of the leaders, their inability to control chaos. As a Chief Minister of a state, it’s fine to be expected to look after the interest of his own state, but being mindful of the fact that he is also a significant part of a larger union, he can’t be partisan to make statements like “Not an inch of land will be given” etc. It defies logic, imagination for chief ministers to be using these statements with the neighbouring States, as though it’s China, Bangladesh or Pakistan. This has evidently added fuel to fire. Since these are sensitive issues, statesmanship approach should have been adopted. There isn’t a need of a sledgehammer approach all the time. And most importantly, these aren’t international borders, but inter-state boundaries, with the police guarding from both the sides. They are supposed to take action against the maintenance of law and order or any cross-border crimes, if any, while often seeking help from the counterparts across the boundary.
It can, conclusively, be stated there is a serious problem in our nation – we believe in procrastinations, delivering lectures, excellent at analysis, but zero in action. All our stakeholders care about is POLITICS and POLITICS!