Four days after violence along the inter-state border injured several people, Mizoram on Wednesday, October 21 agreed to pull back its security forces from areas in Assam.
The decision was taken at a meeting of senior officials of both states on Wednesday evening with Satyendra Kumar Garg, joint secretary (in charge of northeast), Union ministry of home affairs, at the circuit house in Silchar, Assam.
“We will move back the security forces which had come down to Assam side. This should help stranded vehicles to enter Mizoram. There was no discussion on the border dispute in today’s meeting,” Mizoram home secretary Pi Lalbiaksangi told journalists after the meeting.
In the meeting, concerns over rumours and fake news related to the incident which have surfaced on social and electronic media were also raised.
Assam home secretary Gyanendra Dev Tripathi said that both sides have agreed to restore peace and normalcy along the border areas and efforts are underway to resume movement of trucks stranded at the border.
Mizoram home secretary Lalbiaksangi requested Assam officials to ensure movement of stranded trucks while Tripathi requested the Mizoram side to take action against miscreants who burnt down huts on the Assam side on Saturday and also ensure there is no encroachment of reserve forests.
As part of confidence building measures, both sides agreed to hold interactions among deputy commissioners, superintendents of police and divisional forest officers of border districts once a month.
