BSF working on instructions of Mizo-Police, confronts Principal Secretary, DC, DFO, officers from Assam

Principal Secretary to Government of Assam’s Revenue, Forest and Excise departments Avinash Purushottam Das Joshi along with other senior officials from the forest department went to the Assam – Mizoram border to take stock of the situation.

The delegation from Dispur was accompanied by deputy commissioner of Cachar, Keerthi Jalli, divisional forest officer – Cachar, Sunnydeo Choudhury. The team of officers first visited Lailapur and without many confrontations, they managed to reach the border. The purpose of the visit was to get a sense of the land that has been encroached so far.

The second trip of the day to Khulicherra did not go as per plan. The principal secretary was stopped by BSF Jawans. For the freshers, the government of India had decided to deploy central forces in the Assam Mizoram border to bring the situation under control. Assam and Mizoram have been engaged in a boundary dispute since October 17, 2020. Several houses and stalls in Assam’s territory were burnt, allegedly by Mizo miscreants. Two schools operated by the Government of Assam have been bombed and a resident of the state was found dead in Mizoram’s custody.

That is why there are three companies of SSB deployed in Assam and three companies of BSF are manning the border on Mizoram’s side. The BSF Jawans deployed, almost a couple of kilometres inside the territory of Assam stopped the team of officers. Principal secretary, Avinash Joshi urged the jawans to let them go as this is just an inspection-visit. Incidentally, the BSF jawans despite being a part of the Central forces were working as per the command of Mizoram Police.

The BSF Jawans did not allow the senior officers of Assam to visit the border and that is when the deputy commissioner had to make some calls. After a prolonged confrontation, the delegation eventually managed to visit the border and took stock of the school that was bombed. Principal secretary time and again reminded that the way they were threatened is highly improper. But the jawans continued to stop the delegation and each time responded saying there will be an escalation from the locals in Mizoram and it will result in a law and order situation.

After the inspection, DFO, Sunnydeo Choudhury said that the government of Assam is trying its level best to ensure that Assam regains its land encroached by the Mizoram. He has also confirmed the presence of IR Battalion, which was supposed to be withdrawn.

A source close to the development said that the officers will file a detailed report of the visit and submit it to the government.