In a significant escalation of the Assam-Mizoram border dispute, Monday saw at least six persons of the Assam Police killed and around 60 officials and civilians with bullet injuries rushed to hospitals. Afterwards CRPF took over the border posts manned by police of both states.
(L-R) Mizoram CM Zoramthanga and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma. Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma as well as Mizoram CM Zoramthanga took to Twitter, to say that the other side was to blame for the violent escalation of a dispute that in a sense goes back to Mizoram being carved out of Assam in 1972, but in another sense goes back to 1875 when the British drew a boundary that the Mizo leaders want effected even today.
An unsettled boundary dispute is the key cause of India’s troubles with China and Pakistan. But the failure to reach amicable settlements within the country is entirely a failure of domestic leadership, at both the state and central levels.
Last winter saw a long blockade at the border cause hefty economic losses and inconvenience, even as Zoramthanga talked about procuring supplies through Bangladesh and Myanmar instead — a reminder that volatility in states with international borders carries extra risks.
Both CMs must calm tensions instead of stoking them. Twitter is no place to parlay high governmental stakes. Home minister Amit Shah should help broker a permanent peace.
