Zoramthanga tweets video of Assam youths receiving vaccine at Mizoram Church; says Non-Mizos are "in peace"
- Jul 29, 2021,
- Updated Jul 29, 2021, 12:29 AM IST
AIZAWL: Amid tensions at the shared border of Assam and Mizoram, the latter's chief minister Zoramthanga has taken to Twitter to defuse tensions, making an appeal for peace.
The Mizo National Front (MNF) earlier today took to Twitter to share a video in which a number of lads -- presumably from Assam -- attest that they are being inoculated against COVID-19 at a Church in Mizoram.
"Our Assam brethren receiving their Covid vaccines at a Local Church hall in Aizawl. Non-Mizos from all walks of life within Mizoram are at peace. I urge everyone to remain peaceful and refrain from any sort of violence. NorthEast will always be One."
Zoramthanga's effort has largely been appreciated by his followers amid continued tensions at the border.
"This is humanity. When people are considered humans first and their race second. The polar opposite of threatening a fellow state by leveraging the fact that they can cut off supply of essential commodities," wrote one user, while another said, "That's the beauty of Mizoram.... I know those non mizo who are staying inside Mizoram, they are safe."
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Six Assam police personnel fell to bullets on July 27 as a border dispute with neighbouring Mizoram took a bloody turn.
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Officials from both sides, including Zoramthanga and Himanta Biswa Sarma, have accused each other of provoking violence. The firing incident follows months of simmering tensions over a long-running border dispute between the two states.
Assam shares a 164km (about 101 miles) border with Mizoram, and both states contest its demarcation.
Like several other northeastern states of India, Mizoram was previously part of Assam until 1972, when it was carved out as a Union Territory.
The two sides have often sparred over it, sometimes violently. But this was the first time police in the states had fired at each other in a direct confrontation. The officers killed in the attack were from Assam.
The Centre has been trying to mediate a truce between the states since 1994 but has failed to achieve a breakthrough.