Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday urged the people of Mizoram and Assam to maintain peace and harmony. He also stressed that the spirit of eight sisters in the northeast must be always maintained.
While speaking to media over the Assam-Mizoram border clash which claimed the lives of five Assam Police personnel, Rijiju urged the people living in border areas of the two states to maintain peace and harmony.
The Union Minister of Law and Justice said, “Northeast MPs forum has appealed to the people of Mizoram and Assam, particularly people living in the border areas to maintain peace and harmony.”
“We must always maintain the spirit of 8 sisters in the northeastern region,” added Rijiju, who hails from Arunachal Pradesh.
Earlier in the day, Union Home Minister Amit Shah talked over phone with the Chief Ministers of Assam and Mizoram and urged them to maintain peace and protect the people.
The Assam-Mizoram border dispute was controlled last year following the intervention of the Union Home Minister, top Home Ministry officials, and Chief Ministers of both states and then the central paramilitary troops were deployed along the border to prevent fresh troubles.
But since June 29 this year, the troubles along the borders have resumed after the two states accused each other of encroachment at Aitlang hnar near Mizoram’s Vairengte, which borders Assam’s Hailakandi district.
Tension further shot up when Assam officials reportedly destroyed some plantations at Buarchep on July 10 during eviction, while claiming that the people from Mizoram encroached more than six km into its territory.
Assam shares borders with six other northeastern states and has boundary disputes with four – Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya besides Mizoram. Following clashes, Central para-military forces had been deployed on the borders.
