HT Correspondent 

GUWAHATI, July 28: Expressing utter dismay over the Assam-Mizoram border conflicts where six Assam police personnel had to sacrifice their lives on July 26, a northeast India based nationalist citizen’s forum urged the Union government in New Delhi to amicably settle the border issues and also identify the encroachers in the disputed areas. Patriotic People’s Front Assam (PPFA) in a media statement, paying heartfelt tributes to the deceased, demanded a clarification from the Mizoram government in Aizawl how their police forces fired upon the group of Assam police personnel without intimations even though both are government-recognised armed forces under the same set of rules.

The inter-state flare-up resulted in the killing of Assam police personnel namely Swapan Roy (SI), Liton Suklabaidya, MH Barbhuiya, N Hussain, S Barbhuiya, and Shyamprasad Dusat and leaving over 50 others including the Cachar district police chief Baibhab Chandrakant Nimbalkar injured, who has been airlifted to Mumbai for better treatment.

“It was very shocking that the violent incident took place within 48 hours of Union home minister Amit Shah’s visit to Shillong, wherein the fact he met both the concerned chief ministers Pu Zoramthanga and Himanta Biswa Sarma, who incidentally is the convener of BJP promoted northeast democratic alliance (NEDA),” said a PPFA statement.

Lately the central reserve police force (CRPF) personnel were deployed at the affected Lailapur-Vairengte disputed areas to help both the state police forces to maintain law and order situation. The Centre also held discussions with Zoramthanga and Sarma, both of whom were engaged in a war of words in digital platforms over the matter.

The forum observed that a large area of forests in Assam-Mizoram border has been encroached by suspected miscreants and the Monday’s incident was an eruption of tension following an incident of vandalism by some of those lawbreakers. A Mizo couple, who faced the ransacking on its return journey from Cachar triggered the flare-up.

“It is so unfortunate that the encroachers continue engaging in various criminal activities in those areas and on the way to safeguard those illegal migrants, our police personnel have to face the consequences,” said the PPFA statement adding that the Centre should introspect over those criminals seriously while initiating to find a sustainable solution to the border issues.