India

Assam deploys 4,000 commandos after killings at border with Mizoram

A total of 4000 commandos will be deployed in Cachar Karimganj and Hailakandi border areas sharing the interstate border with Mizoram, said Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Talking to media persons at Silchar circuit house on Tuesday during his visit to enquire about the health condition of Cachar SP Vaibhav Nimbalkar and other injured police persons who sustained grave injuries during the fight along with miscreants at the Mizoram border on Monday, Dr Sarma informed that 4000 commandos would be deployed in three companies at Cachar, Karimganj, and Hailakandi with the view to protect the land of the State and also to ensure security of the civilians.

The Chief Minister further informed that the Government will give ex-gratia of Rs 50,00,000 to the kin of the five jawans of Assam police who lost their lives in the clash at the interstate border on Monday.

The State Government has also arranged for air lifting of injured Cachar SP to Mumbai for better treatment.

Earlier, border clashes with Mizoram left five state policemen and a civilian dead and 60 others injured. The Assam government has said that it will approach the Supreme Court seeking protection of Innerline Forest Reserve from destruction and encroachment.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said today that satellite images have shown that roads are being constructed and forests cleared for jhum cultivation which cannot be allowed.

Jhum cultivation is a farming activity where farmland is cleared of trees and other vegetation and then set on fire. The practice is followed in most states of the northeast.

“The dispute is not regarding land but encroachment of reserved forests is the issue. We have no settlements in the forest areas and, if Mizoram can give evidence, we will immediately carry out eviction,” he said.

The Chief Minister asserted that not an inch of Assam’s land could be encroached by the neighbouring state.

“People have sacrificed their lives but boundary has been protected which we will continue to do at any cost,” he asserted.

After the vexed border dispute erupted into bloody clashes with security personnel and civilians from the two states going after each other on Monday, the Governmnet of India had directed them to move away their forces from the border post.

“We have done so but Mizoram is yet to do so. Our police forces are, however, deployed 100 metres from the post,” Mr Sarma said.

 

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