AIZAWL, March 10 - Two Mizo youths were today injured in alleged Assam Police firing at Zophai paddy fields along the north-west border with Assam even as the confrontation between the Mizo Zirlai Pawl (Mizo Students� Association) and Assam Police entered the third day.
Journalists who were at the site reported that two MZP activists PC Ramdinsanga and Lalchhandama sustained injuries on their legs as the Assam Police opened fire at them. At least 45 persons have been injured due to lathicharge by Assam Police personnel since Thursday. Eight of them have been admitted to the civil hospital in the nearest Mizoram town, Bairabi.
The confrontation began when the MZP decided to construct a rest shed (named Zofate Chawlhbuk). The land where the shed is planned to be constructed is a paddy field that belongs to late Chief Minister of Mizoram Ch Chhunga. Ch Chhunga�s widow recently donated the land to the MZP for this purpose.
�Around 12 noon, MZP activists made a fresh bid to start construction works. As they unloaded the construction materials from their truck, Assam Police personnel started firing at them,� a report from Bairabi said.
According to reports available, the Mizoram Government has not deployed police at the site till today.
After the Assam Police firing, the volunteers dispersed, with many fleeing into the nearby jungle. The police chased those running on the road and continued beating them, the report alleged.
Meanwhile, Mizoram Police have stopped hundreds of volunteers from proceeding to Bairabi at Rengtekawn near Kolasib town in northern Mizoram.
The construction work was completed on February 27, 2018 with the help of villagers from the border town of Bairabi in Kolasib district. However, the rest house was allegedly demolished by the Assam Police and Forest Department officials on the same night.
�Till we rebuild the rest shed, we will not go home,� L Ramdinliana Renthlei, president of the MZP, said over phone.
�The British Raj maintained the inner line reserve as no man�s land to ensure that the lesser Mizo tribes were secure from assimilation into the dominant plain people. The Assam Police and Forest department are encroaching on the reserve lines everywhere and claiming that the land belongs to them,� Renthlei added.
