Residents alleged the miscreants from Mizoram carried out the explosion, targeting the Upper Painom Lower Primary School that comes under Hawaithang Post Office, about 41 km from Silchar town, reported
The Print. Some of them blame illegal migrants for the blast.
This is the second such incident reported, after October 24, when a school building was destroyed following a blast at Khulicherra area in Cachar district.
Cachar Superintendent of Police, Bhanwar Lal Meena, and Deputy Commissioner Keerthi Jalli visited the spot the same evening. The police told the media that locals head the sound of the blast from far away. FortunateFortunately, no casualties have been reported.
The investigation into the matter is underway. The administration has deployed Security personnel in large numbers across the border areas.
History of Conflict
Tensions between the states have been prevailing after violence broke out on October 17, when Assam accused Mizoram of encroaching large areas of land in Cachar and Karimganj districts.
The same day, some miscreants damaged over 18 huts and other units. Several rounds of talks were held post the incident, between top officials of the states.
The tensions escalated following the death of Imtiaz Ali Laskar, resident of Assam's Cachar, who died in Mizoram custody. Following the Saturday's attack, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal notified Union Home Minister Amit Shah of the situation and requested the Centre's assistance to curb the problem.
The Assam authorities held a review meeting on Saturday in Dispur, attended by the CM, Chief Secretary Jishnu Baruah, DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta and other senior government officials.
Mizoram was part of Assam till 1972 before becoming a separate Union Territory, and later a full-fledged state in 1987. The three Southern districts in Assam-Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj share a 164.6-km-long border with Mizoram's Kolasib, Mamit and Aizawl districts.
According to Mizoram, the 509-square-mile stretch of the inner-line reserve forest is the actual boundary between the states.
On October 17, clashes erupted on the border areas that left several injured. Following on October 28, an economic blockade was imposed along the national highway by groups in southern Assam. Later, tensions intensified with Laskar's custodial death. Later, top officials of both the state governments
held a discussion on October 18.
According to the Mizoram government, Laskar was arrested by Young Mizo Association (YMA) in Vairengte for selling drugs, and he was found dead in the hospital bed, where the association admitted him for a medical check-up.
Speaking to ThePrint, G.P. Singh, additional DGP (Law and Order), said that the border issue had been taken up at the highest level.
"We have been respecting the statutory and constitutional provisions. We have taken up the matter with the Government of Mizoram and Government of India at the highest level to ensure that peace prevails in the area and the people live in peaceful environments. The deployment of police forces by Mizoram in Notified Reserve Forests is in contravention to Statutes and also endanger the environment in a big way," the media quotes Singh as saying.
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