No untoward incident in Mizoram-Assam border

There was no report of any untoward incident today from the Assam-Mizoram border where the Assam Police and protesters from Mizoram had clashed since March 8, a senior Assam official said.
No activists of the Mizo Zirlai Paw (MZP), the apex Mizo student body, were present at the spot since last afternoon when they withdrew from the border, Hailakandi district Deputy Commissioner Adil Khan said.
The Mizoram's Kolasib district administration has assured its Hailakandi counterpart that the activists have withdrawn from the border and would not return, Khan said.
"The security forces will remain deployed along the border and will be withdrawn only after getting instructions from the top echelons of the administration," he said.

Khan has apprised the chief secretary and additional chief secretary, Home and Political, about the prevailing situation on the border area and the steps being initiated by the district administration to instill confidence among the people living there.
The governments of both the states are engaged in a dialogue to resolve the border dispute with Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal holding telephonic discussions with his Mizoram counterpart Lal Thanhawla.

The Mizoram Police had yesterday alleged that a Mizo student was injured in firing on a group by the Assam Police at Zopui in Kolasib district. The Assam Police had denied the charge and claimed that the protesters were only pushed back when they tried to intrude into the state.

The Hailakandi administration has clamped prohibitory orders under section 144 of CrPC in certain pockets of the district, apprehending encroachment attempts from the Mizoram side, on March 7.
On the following day, members of several organisations of Mizoram attempted to "intrude" into a disputed area of Hailakandi district of Assam and the police had stopped them.
Assam and Mizoram have a long-standing boundary dispute, and there had been tension in the Hailakandi-Kolasib region several times in the past too.