Mizo students burning copies of meeting minutes

Newmai News Network
Aizawl | November  1

Students in Mizoram burnt the copies of ‘meeting minutes’ of the administrations of Mamit district (Mizoram) and Karimganj (Assam).  

Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) and Mizo Students' Union (MSU) while burning the copies on Sunday said they were doing this to protest the participation of the Mamit deputy commissioner in the said meeting that was held on Saturday.

The MZP burnt the copies near Vanapa Hall in Aizawl while the MSU burnt the copies in front of the Mizoram chief minister’s office.

The two student bodies are opposing any meeting between Assam and Mizoram administrations before blockade on National Highway-306 if lifted and the inter-state border dispute is resolved.

“We demand that the blockade has to be lifted first,” an MZP leader said.

MSU leaders said officials of Mamit district ignored the call of the people not to hold any meeting with their Assam counterpart as long as blockade prevails.

The Assam-Mizoram border dispute has been going on for a long time. Troubles crop up from time to time. The issue became again volatile recently.

The Mizoram government had said a few days ago that it “has accepted” the demarcation notified in 1875 under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) of 1873 as the actual boundary of Mizoram and Assam.

According to the state government, it is a “historical boundary of the state which has been accepted since the forefathers of Mizos”.

People from Assam side have been imposing blockade on National Highway-306 at Lailapur and highways linking Mizoram’s Bairabi village with Assam's Hailaikandi district since a few days ago.

The Mizoram government had stated that it was trying its best so that the transportation of essential commodities was not affected.

Even as tension in the Mizoram-Assam border continues to prevail, the Hmar Students’ Association (HSA) had recently urged the Centre to immediately set up a Supreme Court-monitored Boundary Commission headed by the Chairman of Law Commission of India to resolve the Mizoram-Assam border dispute.