Tensions on the Assam-Mizoram border after the blast
Tensions have risen after Mizoram police arrested Laldintluanga Ralte, a member of the India Reserve Battalion.
Guwahati: Two months of relative peace on the restive Assam-Mizoram border have been shattered by a high-intensity bomb blast at a border outpost, prompting Assam police to arrest a Mizoram policeman from the area on Saturday. The cordex was used to detonate from a distance.
A member of the Mizoram Police’s India Reserve Battalion, Laldintluanga Ralte, 23, arrested a resident of Bairabi in Kolasib, Mizoram, and now Mizo students have threatened to stop all traffic from Assam if tensions between the two states escalate.
Assam Police said: “After midnight, around 1.45 pm, a high explosive device was reported to have exploded using an explosive cord near Baichera BOP under Ramnathpur PS, so that some Mizo miscreants were suspected to be involved.”
Hailakandi SP Gaurav Upadhyay told reporters, “In this regard, Laldinantluanga Ralte has been arrested and sent to judicial custody,” adding that police are investigating the matter.
Mizoram officials, however, said that Laldintluanga Ralte of the First India Reserve Battalion was picked up while on duty in the border district of Jofai in Kolasib. He was taken to Ramnathpur police station before being taken to Barak Valley town in Hailakandi. The officer-in-charge of Bairabi police station in Mizoram told reporters that a case has been registered against the constable under sections 447 (inhabited) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.
It is noteworthy that the last blast in the border row on July 26 killed six Assam policemen and injured more than 50 others. Assam police allege that people from Mizoram attacked them by throwing stones. The Mizoram government, on the other hand, said the state police responded only after Assam police officers “forcibly crossed” a post run by CRPF personnel.
Mizo student leaders are angry that a police constable was arrested on Saturday in connection with a bomb blast. The Bairabi branch of the student organization Mizo Jirlai Paul has issued a warning that if the arrested person is not released by 4pm on Sunday, they will stop all vehicles in Assam from entering Bairabi’s Jofai.
Another incident on Friday where a Mizoram resident was killed after being robbed of Rs 1 lakh by some non-tribal criminals also added new tension in the area.
The Barak Valley region of Assam shares a 165 km border with three districts – Hailakandi, Karimganj and Kachar – Mizoram. Border disputes between the two states are ongoing in five places.
Tensions on the Assam-Mizoram border after the blast
Also Read:- Conflict continues in Myanmar pushing more refugees to Mizoram : Report 24 Oct 2021
