Assam To Approach Supreme Court After Bloody Border Clash With Mizoram

Assam-Mizoram Border Dispute: After the vexed border dispute erupted into bloody clashes with security personnel and civilians from the two states going after each other on Monday, the Centre had directed them to move away their forces from the border post.

The Assam government will approach the Supreme Court seeking protection of Innerline Forest Reserve from destruction and encroachment, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said today, a day after border clashes with Mizoram left five state policemen and a civilian dead and 60 others injured. He told a press conference in Silchar that satellite images have shown that roads are being constructed and forests cleared for jhum cultivation which cannot be allowed. "We will move the Supreme Court to ensure that the forests are protected," he said. Jhum cultivation is a farming activity where farmland is cleared of trees and other vegetation and then set on fire. The practice is followed in most states of the northeast.