Clashes between border area residents in the stretches of land claimed by both Mizoram and Assam occurred on October 17 and the issue has cropped up again at a time when elections are just round the corner in Assam. The Hmar Students Association (HSA) said that the troubled stopts have been occupied by “illegal” Bangladeshis and this resulted in frequent law and order issue on Assam-Mizoram border.
“We urge the Central government to constitute a commission to settle the border issue at the earliest,” said one of the oldest students body in Northeast. The HSA was formed in 1939 in undivided Assam.
HSA said both Mizoram and Assam have their own versions of what led to the escalation on October 17.
“The indigenous people on both sides of Assam-Mizoram border have no differences on the border issue. It is the increasing number of Bangladeshi migrants that is causing the problem,” HSA said in a statement.
As normal lives and essential services have been greatly disrupted on both sides of the border as a result of the incidents. It is the poor, needy and downtrodden who are now at the receiving end.
“The Government of India must step in and restore normalcy and essential supply lines in the disputed stretches on Assam-Mizoram border at the earliest. There should be a high level meeting of the two states quickly as the boundary dispute victims are always the poor.”
The student body also called for deployement of neutral forces to guard the disputed stretches besides improving people-people cooperation to check anti-social elements and criminal activities of illegal Bangladeshis on the border area.
“We also want a Supreme Court-monitored Boundary Commission headed by Chairman of Law Commission of India to look into the border dispute on the basis of historical boundaries and constitutional validity,” the HSA said.
The student body said it is also shared the concerns of Zo ethnic tribes over the border issue and “hope that such unity shall remain the binding force of brotherhood among us”.
The HSA said it is grateful to every individual and organisation who took the pain in supporting the cause of the native settlers in their fight against the illegal Bangladeshis.
It maybe mentioned that the Hmar people are the main settlers in the northern belt of Mizoram where the border dispute often cropped up as “illegal Bangladeshis try to infiltrate and grab the land of the native settler”.