Central forces being deployed on Assam-Mizoram border as row on

Central Paramilitary Force (CPMF) personnel are being deployed along the Assam-Mizoram border as the 10-day-long tension in these areas persisted on Friday.

"Central forces have arrived and those are being deployed along the Assam-Mizoram inter-state borders.

"We are hopeful that the inter-state border troubles would be resolved after the deployment of the CPMF," Assam Home Secretary Gyanendra Dev Tripathi told the media in Guwahati.

The blockade along the National Highway (NH) 306, the lifeline of Mizoram, continued for the 10th day on Friday while Mizoram has refused to withdraw its forces unless the situation is normal.

Increasing the tension, Intyaz Ali from Lailapur in southern Assam died in Mizoram custody earlier this week. While Assam officials stated that he died at the hands of miscreants on the other side of the border, Mizoram Home Secretary Lalbiaksangi said that Ali was apprehended with drugs and he was found dead at a hospital on Monday after he referred to the health centre for medical checkup.

Meanwhile, a Mizoram government release said that the state Home Secretary, forwarding a joint resolution of vehicles' drivers of Zoram (Mizoram) and Silchar (Assam) in a letter to the Union Home Ministry, informed that her government would deploy the CRPF to escort stranded vehicles from Mizoram up to the inter-state border, provided that reciprocal measure is taken by the Assam simultaneously to escort all the stranded vehicles by CPMF personnel up to the border, including those vehicles at Mizoram House compound in Silchar.

Due to the blockade along the NH 306 at Lailapur, over 250 Mizoram bound goods-laden vehicles are stuck as the local agitators and vehicle drivers refuse to budge unless Mizoram withdraws its security personnel from Assam and provides security for the movement of vehicles in Mizoram.

Lingering since October 9, the situation along the 164.6-km Assam-Mizoram border took an ugly turn when around 20 shops and houses were burnt and over 50 people sustained injuries in the attacks and counter-attacks by people on either side on October 17.

The ituation was tamed after a series of meetings and central government's intervention. Union Home Ministry's Joint Secretary (North East), Satyendra Kumar Garg also held meetings in Silchar and Aizawl.

However, the inter-state border trouble resurfaced after a fortnight on October 28 along Assam's Cachar and Karimganj, which abut Mizoram's Mamit and Kolasib.

In another development, two farmers, who were kidnapped "by the people belonging to Mizoram" while they were working at their paddy field at Tulartal village on October 29, returned to their village the next day.