JOIN USAssam to move SC to protect forest land, maintain status quo on border with Mizoram
Assam government has decided to file a petition in the Supreme Court with a plea for protection of the Inner Line Reserve Forest from encroachment and ensure status quo on the contested inter-state border with Mizoram, where five policemen died in firing on Monday.
Alleging that Mizoram was constructing a road, set up a new forest post and people from that side were encroaching the reserve forest land, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said, "We want protection of the reserve forest land and there is no encroachment on the forest land from Assam side. But fresh encroachment of the forest land has happened from Mizoram side. If the Centre asks us to vacate the forest for protection, we are ready to do so but we do not want settlement in the forest land. So Assam government has decided to file a petition in the Supreme Court for protection of the forest land and ensure that a status quo is maintained on the border," Sarma told reporters at Silchar, the headquarters of Cachar district in South Assam.
Cachar, situated about 400-km from Guwahati, along with neighbouring Karimganj and Hailakandi districts shares 164.6 km inter-state border with Kolasib, Aizawl and Mamit district of Mizoram. But the areas have remained tense for the past several months and witnessed frequent clashes owing to disagreements regarding the border.
Sarma said an Assam police team visited the area at Lailapur on July 25 based on a report submitted by divisional forest officer, Cachar about fresh encroachment on the forest land from Mizoram side. But Mizoram police fired using automatic weapons like Light Machine Guns continuously for 30 to 35 minutes when discussion was going on with the SP, Kolasib. In the firing, 47 Assam policemen got injured, five of whom died later. Mizoram CM, Zoramthanga on Monday, however, claimed that the firing started from Assam side first at 4.50 pm following which they retaliated.
Sarma said he had proposed to his Mizoram counterpart to maintain a status quo based on satellite imagery but the latter refused to accept the same. "During the meeting between chief secretaries and DGPs of both the states on July 8 in New Delhi, Mizoram refused to sign the Memorandum of Understanding, draft of which was prepared regarding the status quo," he said.
"Even if our policemen died yesterday, we did not give an inch of our land to Mizoram. Our stand is that we will die but will not give an inch of land," he said.
Sarma announced that Rs 50 lakh would be given to family of each of the five policemen who died on Monday and a government job would be given to a family member. "We will also give Rs 1 lakh to all the injured policemen and an additional one month salary to all police personnel who are guarding our border with Mizoram. We have also decided to deploy three batallions of Assam police commando (1,200 in each batallion) on the Assam side of the border," he said.
Non-state actors
Sarma suspected the involvement of "non-state actors" in the violence carried out from Mizoram side. "The videos and photographs showed weapons in the hands of civilians in the presence of Mizoram police and government officials. I would request Mizoram CM Zoramthanga to conduct an inquiry to find out possible involvement of non-state actors in the violence," he said.
"Some people are fighting against Myanmar government and over 10,000 Myanmar nationals have taken shelter in Mizoram. Some of them tried to enter Dima Hasao district in Assam but we blocked their entry. Some others are also angry with us over our ongoing crackdown against illicit drugs. We have blocked the supply route of the drugs coming from Myanmar through Mizoram and Barak Valley in Assam (Silchar, Cachar and Karimganj) for supply to Punjab. Also some people are trying to create a fear among people in Mizoram about our new Bill that seeks to prohibit transportation of cattle through Assam. We have made it very clear that transportation of the cattle to other Northeastern states with valid permission would not be affected. So all these factors could be aiding the violence," Sarma said.
Sarma also refuted Zoramthanga's allegation that Assam was trying to settle Bangladeshi nationals on the reserve forest area. "We are not allowing settlement of any people in the forest land and we cannot do so under the forest law. If they say that people living near the forest are Bangladeshis, people in Barak Valley can also say that people in the Mizoram side are from Myanmar," he said.