Fear Of ‘Illegal Bangladeshis’ May Have Spooked Mizos

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Posted in Featured, Mizoram

– Bhrigu Talukdar

As the dust vitiated by the violent and bloody Vairengte flare-up seems to be settling down after both sides’ parley in New Delhi new questions regarding the underlying factors leading to those clashes are being raised.

One of them being, what spooked the Mizos to react with such ferocity at their Assam police brethren for allegedly violating Mizo territory.

The killing of Six policemen has started a chain of events that will affect interstate relationships for years to come irrespective of who started it. As per reports, Assam police have already registered a case on the killing of its personnel.

Experts are pointing their fingers Mizos’ underlying ‘land grab’ fears by illegal Bangladeshi immigrants for their aggressive stance of July 26.

The scathing open letter of the Mizo Students union addressed to current Assam Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma is a testimony to it.

“Within the Inner Line Reserve Forest Area of 509 Sq. Miles, there are many illegal immigrants from Bangladesh who reside in the area,” states the letter. The letter Signed by J. Lalmuanzuala President of Mizo Students’ Union also takes a dig at the alleged political ambitions of Dr. Sarma.

However, counterclaims are being made about alleged land encroachment by Mizo villagers in the reserve forest area bordering both states.

At the same time, the opposition Congress is not shying away from training its guns towards the Assam CM. A joint press statement of Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur & Arunachal Pradesh Youth Congress Presidents released on July 28 has accused Dr. Sarma of “incidents of aggression and force used by the Assam Government against its neighboring states in the past few years.”

The statement also claims that “Since the appointment of Shri. Himanta Biswa Sarma as the Chief Minister of Assam these incidents have increased alarming and the use of police force has increased dramatically.”

However, Chief Minister Sarma had already tried to allay those fears while addressing the press on July 27.

“We want to protect the reserve forests for the future generations. No one can settle in those areas as they are reserve forests,” he said.

With the Chief Secretaries of both the states agreeing to interim peace plan and further discussions to solve the long-standing border issue what remains to be seen as to how long the status quo is maintained.

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