Ministers of Assam and Mizoram are scheduled to meet in Mizoram capital Aizawl on Thursday for resolving the inter-State boundary conflict that claimed seven lives on July 26 and led to an “economic blockade” by locals in Assam.
While Assam has nominated Ministers Atul Bora and Ashok Singhal for the meeting, Mizoram has not named its representatives.
“Two of my senior colleagues… will visit Aizawl tomorrow (August 5) with message of peace from people of Assam,” Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted on Thursday.
His Mizoram counterpart Zoramthanga responded by tweeting, “I am sure important steps will be achieved for the solution of the border problem.”
The messages from the two Chief Ministers coincided with a heated exchange between the ruling and Opposition members of the Assam Assembly over the boundary clash. This resulted in Speaker Biswajit Daimary adjourning the House for 40 minutes.
Opposition MLAs from the Congress, the All India United Democratic Front, the Bodoland People’s Front and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) demanded a neutral probe into the July 26 violence either by the Central Bureau of Investigation or the National Investigation Agency.
“Problems with Mizoram started in October 2020. Assam police personnel died even after we had given a letter to the Centre on this issue. Whose fault was this?” Congress MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha asked.
The ruckus in the House started after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pijush Hazarika said the process of resolving the boundary issue has started and reminded the Congress of 34 people having died in inter-State boundary clashes during its tenure since 1974.
Six Assam Police personnel and a civilian were killed and more than 50 people, including the Cachar Superintendent of Police, were injured when the boundary dispute snowballed into a gunfight on July 26.
