July 27, 2021: A day after the intense violence in Assam-Mizoram border that left 5 Assam cops and a civilian dead, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma assured that not “a single inch of Assam land has been encroached upon” and people of Assam would lay their lives to safeguard their land but will not indulge in counter attack or attack people of its own country.

“We will die but we will not allow anyone to encroach our land and we will not attack people of our own country. I want to assure the people of Assam that not a single inch of land has been encroached upon by anyone. Border tension is going on along the borders. We have deployed enough forces along the borders, reinforcements have been sent but our land along the borders is safe,” CM Sarma said addressing the media in Silchar today.

Narrating the entire incidence of violence that happened yesterday at Lailapur in Assam’s Cachar district bordering Vairengte in Mizoram's Kolasib district, the Chief Minister said that it was on July 25 Assam got to know that Mizoram had started to build a road and had set up a police post inside the reserve forest. Cachar SP, DIG and IGP reached the location and requested SP Kolasib to dismantle the police post and stop construction of the road inside the reserve forest. The SP agreed but after a while a large number of civilians with stones, sticks and catapults reached the site. Even as the Kolasib SP and the Assam Police officials were talking, firing began from the Mizoram side. First people from Mizoram pelted stones and then the firing started. This left many including SP Cachar seriously injured with bullet injuries.

“I spoke to Mizoram CM Zoramthanga ji at least 6 times. I was on the phone with him when the firing was happening. I requested him to stop the firing. He kept telling me ‘I am very very sorry’. Firing went on for 30-35 minutes. Light machine guns were used,” CM Sarma said.

Assam government would move the Supreme Court and file a suit regarding the border dispute. Assam would deploy 4000 commandos along the Assam-Mizoram border, the Chief Minister said adding that the site of violence is now well guarded and enough police personnel have been deployed along the Assam border.

The state government has announced Rs 50 lakh each for those killed and a government job for the next of kin and Rs one lakh each for all those injured in the violence. SP Cachar, Vaibhav Nimbalkar has been air-lifted to Maharashtra for better treatment. Some of the other injured people have been shifted to GMCH.

Assam has announced 3-day state mourning and the flag would fly at half-mast as a mark of respect to those killed.

CM Sarma said that soon after he took over as the Chief Minister of Assam he spoke to Mizoram CM Zoramthanga and had suggested satelite mapping of the boundary to which he had agreed but later the Chief Secretary of Mizoram refused to sign the Memorandum of Agreement post the Chief Secretaries’ talks held recently in New Delhi.