Civilians approached BOP at 2:00 am and opened fire at police personnel; Hailakandi SP responds

The Assam-Mizoram border clash has taken a new turn now in Hailakandi. A few days back, on the eve of Independence Day, a bomb blast shook an LP school in Hailakandi’s Gutguti area, 500 metres inside the Assam-Mizoram border. Within days of that incident, another clash between Assam Police officials and some Mizo citizens took place near the Bilaspur area. The firing took place on both sides at around 2 am on August 17 at the foot of the Darashing hills at the Aitlangpui near Bilaspur.

According to Hailakandi SP Gourav Upadhyay, in the early hours of August 17, around 2 am, a few of the Assam Police officials while on night duty found a few people passing through the forest area of the Darashing Hills in Bilaipur. “A road is being constructed connecting the Bilaipur outpost with the Dholaikhal, and till now many people on the other side of the border used to come here to obstruct the construction work. In the wee hours of August 17, our patrolling officers saw a few people in that area flashing torchlights and advancing towards the BOP. When the officers confronted them and asked for identification, which is a routine activity, they refused and instead open fire at our personnel,” explained Upadhyay.

He added, “Our police officers fired back in retaliation and also took ‘measured retaliation’ according to the drill. After a while, the firing and flashing lights stopped from the other side. Then after waiting for a while, at around 4:30 am when the light was out, our police officers cordoned off the whole area and started searching. Despite carefully searching of the whole area, they couldn’t find anything substantial,” said SP Gourav Upadhyay. He also said that later in the morning, DC, DIG also visited the area but couldn’t find anything suspicious.

Meanwhile, DC Kolasib from Mizoram has put out a statement alleging that on that fateful day, the Assam police personnel fired at 3 Mizo civilians who went there to meet with a person going by the alias ‘Nibus’ on the latter’s invitation, who allegedly is the resident of Bilaipur. One of the civilians was gravely injured while trying to flee the scene and was admitted to the Vairangte PHC. The person was later released.

DC Kolasib Dr H Lalthlangliana has conveyed his dismay to the Hailakandi DC regarding the Assam Police opening fire on the civilians and also requested the DC to take stern action against the alias named ‘Nibus’, Bilaipur for luring the 3 Mizo civilians near the Police duty post, thus endangering their lives. Following this incident, Kolasib DC has reiterated to the public to avoid visiting the border areas and to also avoid spreading false news, which may further aggravate the tension in these areas.

However, SP Hailakandi has reiterated that such kind of movement late at night in such a thick and broad forest area should be considered as ‘suspicious activity,” and it is just part of the drill to ask for identification while confronting anybody in that region.