Students ask Assam policemen police to leave disputed area

In the backdrop of clashes between Assam's security forces and students from Mizoram at the disputed area along inter-state border, various Mizo students' bodies today demanded that the Assam Police personnel leave the spot within 20 hours, a statement said.
The demand came after the Mizo Students Union, the Aizawl City College Joint Students Union and clan-based student bodies held a meeting here.
However, the students' bodies did not mention what action they would take if their demand was not met.
The students also demanded that the Assam government compensate the Mizo people injured in alleged firing and lathi charge by the Assam Police since the trouble broke out on March 8 at Zopui along the border separating districts of Hailakandi in Assam and Kolasib in Mizoram.

Assam and Mizoram have a long-standing boundary dispute, and there had been tension in the Hailakandi-Kolasib region several times in the past.
Meanwhile, at least two opposition parties of Mizoram demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla allegedly for failing to protect Mizos and the Mizoram territory.

The Mizo National Front (MNF) and the People's Right to Information and Development Implementing Society of Mizoram (PRISM) issued statements accusing the Congress government of not handling the issue properly.
Trouble continued along Assam-Mizoram border today with the Mizoram Police alleging that a Mizo student was injured in firing on a group by the Assam Police at Zopui, while the latter denied the charge and claimed that the protesters were only pushed back when they tried to intrude into the state.

Several other members of the Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), the Mizo apex students body, were also injured as security forces in Assam resorted to lathicharge, the Mizoram Police said.
The Mizoram Journalists' Association had also claimed on March 8 that six scribes who had gone there to cover the MZP programme were attacked by the Assam Police personnel though they had showed their press cards.