The conflict between Assam and Mizoram, which erupted on July 26, pits two of the seven states located in the far northeast of India, on the borders of Bhutan, Burma, Bangladesh and China. , nicknamed the “seven sisters”, the seven sisters. The ensemble is barely larger than the UK, with a population of around 45 millions of inhabitants, but territorial conflicts are alive there.
At the heart of the “seven sisters”, Assam, 35 million inhabitants, mostly Hindus, occupies a central position and shares its border with all its neighbors, including 165 kilometers with the Mizoram, 1.3 million inhabitants, mainly of tribal origin and predominantly Christian. On July 26, the security forces clashed by gunfire in the district of Cachar. Six Assam policemen and a civilian died, more than 80 people were injured on both sides. Heads of government blamed each other for the violence, adding fuel to the fire with accusatory messages on social media.
The ruler of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, accuses his neighbor of clearing forests for the construction of roads and crops towards Lailapur. His Mizoram counterpart, Pu Zoramthanga, retorts that Assamese police officers violated his territory by destroying plantations and invokes self-defense. The two officials are however close to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Complaints, blockades and violence
On both sides, murder complaints were lodged against officials and politicians, blockades were organized on the roads by Assam, trucks attacked and vandalized, thus preventing the supply of food, but also in drugs and medical equipment from Mizoram, while the Covid-19 pandemic is still raging.
The violence came two days after Indian Interior Minister Amit Shah visited Meghalaya, who called for a peaceful resolution of all cross-border disputes. The opposition criticizes the government’s inability to maintain public order in the region. Chief Congressman Rahul Gandhi believes that Amit Shah has once again “Failed in its obligations towards the country by sowing hatred and mistrust”.
The opposition criticizes the government’s inability to maintain public order in the region
Before Parliament, the government defended a mediation strategy : “The approach of the central government has always been that inter-state disputes can only be resolved with the cooperation of the governments of the states concerned and that the central government acts only as a facilitator for an amicable settlement of the matter. dispute. “
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