Assam-Mizoram Border tensed: Mizoram Bound Trucks Vandalised by mobs
GUWAHATI- Assam’s efforts to lift the blockade at the border with Mizoram on Saturday evening ran aground after miscreants vandalised several vehicles, which had started moving towards the Mizoram, at Lailapur in Cachar district forcing them to turn back.
According to reports, two Assam ministers Parimal Suklabaidya and Ashok Singhal were still in talks with public representatives and the deputy commissioner and superintendent of police of Cachar district when some of the vehicles started moving.
This apparently enraged the people who then resorted to pelting stones and vandalism. However, peace was restored after the deputy commissioner and the SP intervened. The reports quoted some truckers to say they were asked by the police to move.
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Some vehicles which were released from Mizoram House in Silchar also came under attack at Lailapur, according to the deputy resident commissioner, S Kaptluanga.
In a video message on Friday Mizoram health minister Dr R Lalthangliana said it was very difficult to manage patients who were in dire need of oxygen given the limited supply due to the blockade. “Covid-19 patients are dying for want of medicines…which are still stuck on the other side of the border, this act of arrogance is clearly in violation of basic human rights and the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India,” he said. Besides, other basic necessities such as PPE kits are also held up.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma later appealed to the people to allow the vehicles to move while asserting that Assam was committed to safeguarding the state’s constitutional boundaries.
Lalthangliana said that machinery for establishment of an oxygen plant at Zoram Medical College were still stranded at Guwahati. The oxygen plant is supposed to be commissioned before August 15 as per the directive of the Centre.
After the July 26 flare-up, Assam and Mizoram held a meeting on August 5 in an effort to defuse tensions at the border and work towards finding an amicable settlement of the decades-old dispute between the two states.
