Residents of Assam and Mizoram battled twice in the space of a week in October last year over territory, injuring at least eight people and torching a few homes and small shops.
Villagers of Lailapur hamlet in the Cachar district of Assam battled with residents of Vairengte in the Kolasib district of Mizoram. Similar violence had occurred on the border of Karimganj (Assam) and Mamit (Mizoram) districts just days before this conflict, on October 9 2020. A farm cabin and a betel nut crop owned by two Mizoram citizens were set on fire on October 9,2020.In the second incident in Cachar, some individuals from Lailapur threw stones at Mizoram police officers and civilians. Mizoram villagers mobilised and pursued them, according to Kolasib Deputy Commissioner H Lalthangliana.
Showdowns between Assam and Mizoram inhabitants are less common in the Northeast's intricate boundary equations than, say, Assam and Nagaland citizens.Nonetheless, the current 165-kilometer border between Assam and Mizoram dates back to the colonial era, when Mizoram was known as Lushai Hills, an Assam region.
The controversy comes from two notifications: one from 1875 that distinguished the Lushai Hills from the Cachar plains, and another from 1933 that established a border between the Lushai Hills and Manipur. Mizoram believes the boundary should be delineated on the basis of the 1875 notification, which is taken from the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) Act, 1873, according to a Mizoram minister who spoke to The Indian Express last year.
Mizo authorities have previously complained that Mizo society was not consulted when the demarcation was announced in 1933. According to MZP's Vanlaltana, the Assam government adheres to the 1933 delineation, which is the source of contention. The last time the boundary witnessed violence was in February 2018, before Monday's (July 26) and last October's occurrences.
The MZP had constructed a wooden rest house in a forest at the time, reportedly for the use of farmers. It was razed by Assam Police and Forest Department officers, who claimed it was in Assam jurisdiction. After then, MZP members clashed with Assam police, who assaulted a group of Mizoram journalists who had gone to report the scene.
