The Mizoram police claim that Assam police have built two temporary huts in the contested Zophai area, amid negotiations between the two northeastern states to resolve the contentious border conflict amicably.
Vanlalfaka Ralte, the superintendent of police in Kolasib, told PTI over the phone that on October 2, the Assam police built two temporary huts in the Zophai neighbourhood across from Ch Chhunga, the first chief minister of Mizoram, whose paddy field was the scene of a border conflict in 2018.
But the Assam police themselves removed the huts on Monday, he claimed.
It was impossible to reach the Assam authorities for comment.
After the huts were destroyed, the tension caused by their construction vanished from the neighbourhood. The region is close to Assam’s Hailakandi district.
According to the SP on Monday, the Assam police destroyed the two huts after speaking with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also the state’s home minister, and Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga.
According to Ralte, last week saw the completion of a survey in the area by Assam officials.
The 164.6 km-long border between Mizoram and Assam.
Ralte added that he and the deputy commissioner for Kolasib had telephone conversations with their Hailakandi counterparts and informed them that the region was a contested territory where both state governments had agreed to maintain the status quo.
He said that the Assam officials claimed not to be aware that the region was in dispute.
In March 2018, when MZP officials sought to build a wooden cabin there, there was a conflict that left more than 60 people hurt.
The chief ministers of the two states met in Delhi in September of this year to discuss the border problem and they decided to continue the existing cabinet level discussions.
