Lailapur, Vairengte: There is an uneasy calm at Vairengte, the site of a violent clash that broke out between the Assam and Mizoram police forces on 26 July, which left six personnel dead and 50 others injured.
Two 16×32 feet posts of Mizoram’s Indian Reserve Battalion in Vairengte in Mizoram are riddled with countless bullet marks. Bricks and stones are strewn across the National Highway 306 that connects Assam to Mizoram. A vandalised bus with ‘Mizoram’ sprayed on it in deep pink colour blocked the highway.
What had triggered the clash between the two police forces was an 8×8 feet under-construction post that the Mizoram Police was building atop a hillock for its personnel. While the Mizoram Police claimed they built the post to “secure their area”, the Assam Police claimed the post was being built in the Inner Line Forest reserve area, which was illegal.
According to eyewitnesses, a heated negotiation between representatives of the two forces turned into alleged heckling of Mizoram policemen who were chased away and then what followed was vandalism, lobbing of tear gas shells and a military-style ambush.
ThePrint’s Praveen Jain brings you images from the site of the clash.
