A long-simmering border dispute between Assam and Mizoram
went up in flames last Monday when at least five Assam police personnel were
killed in clashes on the Assam-Mizoram border.

Tensions have been rising for some time. In October last
year, residents of Assam and Mizoram clashed twice within one week over claims
to a territory. Eight people were injured in the clashes and many huts and
shops were torched.

The situation has come to a point where the central
government has had to intervene and the Mizoram police have booked cases against
the Chief Minister of Assam.

Last October’s flare-up

On October 9, 2020, a farm hut and a betel nut plantation
belonging to two Mizoram residents were set alight. The incident occurred on
the borders of Karimganj in Assam and Mamit in Mizoram.

A few days after the clash, residents of Lailapur village
in Assam’s Cachar district clashed with residents of people living near
Vairengte in Mizoram’s Kolasib districts. People from Lailapur pelted stones at
Mizoram cops and in turn people in Mizoram attacked the Assam residents with
stones.

Origins of the dispute

Mizoram was earlier a part of Assam and was known as the “Lushai
Hills”. In 1972, the area was carved out of Assam as a separate Union
Territory. In 1987, Mizoram became a state.

Three districts of Assam — Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj
— have a 164km-long shared boundary with three districts of Mizoram— Aizwal,
Kolasib and Mamit. It is this boundary that is at the heart of the current
tensions. Assam and Mizoram regularly accuse each other of encroachment.

The heart of the matter

At the heart of the Assam-Mizoram dispute are two
notifications on boundary demarcation issued during the British rule, one in
1875 and another in 1933.

Mizos say that they do not accept the 1933 notification
because their leaders were not consulted when that was made.

The disagreement escalated to clashes for the first time
in 1994, seven years after Mizoram became a state. The Union government had to
organise numerous rounds of talks between leaders of both states. But no
resolution could be found.

A section of government officials from Mizoram say that
Assam and Mizoram had agreed on a status quo in the no man’s land in the border
area and people from Assam had violated the agreement, another second from the
Assam side say that the land belongs to Assam according to government records.

A Mizoram minister had told The Indian Express last year
that Mizoram believes the boundary should be demarcated on the basis of the
1875 notification.

As things stand

As of now, Central forces are guarding the border between
Assam and Mizoram. Earlier this month, chief secretaries of both states had met
to discuss the dispute.

Tensions are at their peak and last week Union Minister
Amit Shah had held closed-door meetings with Chief Ministers of north-eastern
states in Shillong.

Following the Centre’s intervention, Mizoram Chief
Minister Zoramthanga has appeared for calm. However, the situation is far from
peaceful as police forces and senior leaders of the two states seem to be
taking pot-shots at each other. A mature resolution seems far from resolving
itself.