The boundary dispute between Assam with three crore and Mizoram with more than 10 lakh population escalated to unprecedented levels in August 2021, as firing on the inter-state boundary left at least six Assam policemen dead and more than 50 individuals injured. The border dispute between Assam and Mizoram dates back nearly one hundred and fifty years. There have been several clashes due to inter-state disputes between various states of the Northeast, but violence has been a rare occurrence in the dispute between Assam and Mizoram.
The root cause of this conflict is a 1,318 sq km area of the inner-line reserve forest (ILRF). Mizoram claims it as its own on the basis of the 1875 notification under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act of 1873. Assam, however, insists that this area is part of its ‘constitutional boundary’.
Background of the Dispute
Assam and Mizoram share a boundary of 165 km which dates back to the time when Mizoram was a district of Assam, known as Lushai Hills. The boundary between Assam and Mizoram was demarcated twice in 1875 and 1933.
On August 20, 1875, the first demarcation was notified, which was derived from the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) Act 1873. It separated Lushai Hills in Mizoram from the plains of Cachar in Assam’s Barak Valley, with consultation of the Mizo chiefs. This demarcation led to the demarcation of Inner Line Reserve Forest (ILRF) in the Gazette two years later.
In 1933, the second demarcation separated Lushai Hills from Manipur, beginning at the tri-junction of Lushai Hills, Cachar district, and Manipur.
Issue of Contention
As per Mizo leaders, the present boundary was arbitrarily demarcated in 1930 and 1933 without consulting and getting approval of the competent authorities and the people of the Lushai Hills (now in Mizoram). As a result, some of the Lushai-inhabited areas such as Cachar Zion, Tlangnuam, Lala Bazar, and Banga Bazar were unreasonably excluded.
Mizo leaders refuse to accept any boundary other than the Inner Line reserve Forest of 1875 on the southern frontier of Cachar, as notified in the BEFR Act, which was revised in 1878 in order to demarcate the Lushai Hills frontier from the plains of Assam.
On the other hand, Assam insists on the boundary demarcated in 1986 on the basis of the 1933 notification.
In a memorandum given to the Prime Minister Modi in 2018, the Mizos said, “It is to the Mizos no more than an imaginary line pushed farther and farther south of the Inner Line of 1875, depriving the Mizos of the gentle slopes and flat lands for the convenience of outside settlers (mainly Bangladeshees) brought by the British.” (It is to be noted that at that time the country of Bangladesh had not even come into existence.)
A Mizo panel, backed by all political parties, has urged the centre to institute a commission to demarcate the border to the satisfaction of both states.
The dispute has been seething since Mizoram became a Union Territory in 1972 and thereafter a state in the 1980s. At that time, both the states signed an agreement that the status quo should be maintained at no-man’s land (disputed land) on the border. Over the decades, there have been many allegations of transgressions, but confrontations between the two states have become quite frequent only in recent times.
Incidents of Violence
In October 2020, Assam police officers allegedly visited Saihapui ‘V’ in Mizoram and threatened to blockade the inter-state highway as well as the National Highway connecting the two states at Lailapur in Assam. In November 2020, bombs exploded at Upper Phainuam Lower Primary School in Mizoram.
Several huts and small shops were burnt, and violent clashes took place over petty issues like claiming betel nut cultivation areas that led to setting ablaze plantations belonging to residents of Mizoram. There were clashes between villagers of Lailapur and Karimganj (Assam) and Vairengte and Mamiut (Mizoram).
Similarly, as per Mizoram government, a team of around 200 Assam Police, led by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Assam Police, and the Deputy Commissioner (DC), Superintendent of Police (SP), and Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Cachar crossed a duty-post, manned by Central Reserve Police Force personnel, stationed there and overran a duty post, manned by one section of Mizoram police personnel. Further, the Assam police also damaged several vehicles that were travelling along the National Highway between Vairengte and Lailapur.
On the contrary, issuing a statement, the Home Minister of Assam alleged Mizoram of breaching existing agreements and the status quo by constructing a road towards Rengti Basti in Assam, destroying the Inner Line Reserve Forest in Lailapur area. Mizoram also set up a new armed camp on a hillock next to the camp of the neutral force, CRPF, in the same vicinity.
Both sides withdrew their forces after the intervention of the Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Other Inter-State Border Disputes
Northeast states like Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Mizoram were carved out of Assam. Therefore, Assam has disputes with several of its neighbours. Assam shares its boundary with Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura, and West Bengal.
Some other inter-state border disputes, arisen out of demarcation of boundaries over territories are as follows:
- Assam and Nagaland It is the longest running dispute in North East. Assam and Nagaland share a 500-km boundary. Violent conflicts, some leading to deaths, have taken place at different times since 1965. These clashes were described in 2008 in a book published by the ‘Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses’. These disputes began soon after Nagaland became a state in 1963. The Nagaland State Act of 1962 defined the state’s borders according to a 1925 notification when Naga Hills and Tuensang Area (NHTA) were integrated into a new administrative unit.
However, Nagaland does not accept the boundary delineation and has demanded that the new state should also have all areas in North Cachar and Nagaon districts. Since Nagaland did not accept its notified borders, tensions flared up between Assam and Nagaland soon after Nagaland came into existence. It led to the first border clashes in 1965, followed by major clashes between the two states along the border in 1968, 1979, 1985, 2007, and 2014.
- Assam and Arunachal Pradesh The two states share a boundary of around 800 km. Arunachal complains that the re-organisation of north-eastern states unilaterally transferred several forested tracts in the plains that had traditionally belonged to hill tribal chiefs and communities to Assam. A tripartite committee was appointed after Arunachal Pradesh achieved statehood in 1987, which recommended that certain territories be transferred from Assam to Arunachal. Assam contested this and the matter is pending before the Supreme Court. The first clashes were reported in 1992 due to boundary transgressions and illegal encroachment.
- Assam and Meghalaya The two states share an 884-km boundary. Meghalaya has identified 12 disputed areas with Assam. The dispute between Assam and Meghalaya began when the latter challenged the Assam Reorganisation Act of 1971, which gave Blocks I and II of the Mikir Hills or present-day Karbi Anglong district to Assam. Joint surveys of the disputed border segments have been undertaken to resolve the issue.
- Karnataka and Maharashtra The two states have a dispute over the Belgaum district which is one of the biggest inter-state border disputes in India. The district has a large Marathi- and Kannada-speaking population. The area came under Karnataka in 1956 when states were reorganised. Before that, it was under the Bombay presidency.
- Haryana and Himachal Pradesh There are differences over the Parwanoo region between the two states. Parwanoo is next to the Panchkula district of Haryana. Haryana has also claimed parts of the land in Himachal Pradesh.
- Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh Both the states lay claim to Sarchu, an area on the route between Leh and Manali. The area is considered a major point where travellers stop while travelling between the two cities.
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