Assam, Mizoram chief secretaries, DGPs attend MHA meet on interstate border row

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma pays tribute to six cops killed in border clash, at SP office in Cachar district, on Tuesday. Pic/PTI

The chief secretaries and the police heads of Assam and Mizoram attended a meeting Wednesday called by the Union Home Ministry to resolve the ongoing border conflict between the two states which left five policemen and a civilian dead recently.

Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla chaired the meeting which was attended by Assam Chief Secretary Jishnu Baruah and Director General of Police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta and their respective Mizoram counterparts Lalnunmawia Chuaungo and SBK Singh, officials said.

"The central government is concerned over the Assam-Mizoram border dispute which led to violence and deaths of six people. The objective of the meeting is to lower the tension, bring peace and possibly find a solution," a home ministry official said.

The Director General of CRPF also attended the meeting as the personnel of the paramilitary force have been deployed in the Assam-Mizoram border areas where tension is high, the official said.

Five Assam Police personnel and a civilian were killed and over 50 others including a superintendent of police were injured when the Mizoram Police opened fire on a team of the Assam officials Monday.

Assam's Barak Valley districts of Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi share a 164-km long border with three Mizoram districts of Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit.

After counter allegations of encroachment of territory over the past few weeks and skirmishes that escalated tensions between the two states, violent clashes were reported along the inter-state border that ended in the death of five Assam Police men and a civilian.

The incidents came two days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah held talks with the chief ministers of eight northeastern states and underscored the need to resolve lingering border disputes.

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