Assam: Three weeks after a violent clash between police forces of Assam and Mizoram, an incident of firing on Tuesday escalated tension on the disputed inter-state border again.
While Mizoram alleged that personnel of the Assam Police fired on its civilians injuring one, the neighbouring state claimed that the men in uniform only returned the fire after miscreants from the other side of the border sprayed bullets on them.
Seven persons, including six Assam Police personnel, were killed and over 50 others injured in the clash between forces of the two North-eastern states on July 26 and a process of rapprochement is on.
Mizoram’s Kolasib district Deputy Commissioner H Lalthlangliana said Tuesday’s incident occurred around 2 am at the disputed Aitlang area bordering Assam’s Hailakandi district when three residents of Vairengte town went there to collect meat from a friend, a resident of Bilaipur in Assam, who invited them to come.
One person was injured in the firing by Assam Police personnel who were guarding the inter-state border, he claimed.
Hailakandi SP Gaurav Upadhyay said an exchange of firing took place, but declined to share details. “No casualty has been reported on both sides,” he said.
A senior district official, however, said the miscreants from the Mizoram side showered bullets in darkness from the top of Darasing Hills when workers were constructing a road leading to the border from Bilaipur under the MGNREGA scheme.
“In reply to the firing from the Mizoram side, Assam Police personnel also fired several rounds,” the official said.
Assam’s Barak Valley districts of Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi share a 164-km border with Mizoram’’s three districts of Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit. — PTI
