Amid the latest border violence on Monday following decades-long tension, the Indian state of Assam has advised its people not to travel to Mizoram warning that any threat to their personal safety cannot be accepted, reports NDTV.
Six members of the Assam police died in Monday's unprecedented clash between the police of two states, when 45 people were wounded.
"Even after this incident, certain Mizo civil society, students and youth organisations are constantly issuing provocative statements against the state of Assam and its people. It has been reliably learnt from video footage available with Assam Police, that many civilians are heavily armed with automatic weapons etc," read the advisory the Assam authorities issued on Thursday.
In view of all this, the state government said, the people of Assam are advised not to travel to Mizoram and those staying in Mizoram on work-related compulsions, "should exercise utmost caution".
Later in the day, Assam government through another notification said all vehicles entering the state from Mizoram will be checked for "illicit drugs".
Justifying its move to check vehicles from Mizoram, the Assam govreadsernment said that within a span of two months, 912 cases have been registered and 1,560 persons arrested and huge quantities of illicit drugs confiscated.
A tweet by a senior Assam Police official, GP Singh, said the government was continuing its "offensive against drug cartels operating from Mizoram and beyond". Singh urged people to cooperate in the interest of the "Gennext of our country".
"During the drive against illlicit drugs, it has been observed that most of the drugs were routed through Assam via Mizoram from across the border," said the Assam order, adding this "trafficking of illicit drugs via Mizoram causes great concern and threat to society".
"In order to check trafficking of illicit drugs, it is felt necessary to check all vehicles entering into Assam from Mizoram. Such vehicles will be thoroughly checked by personnel of Assam Police at the point of entry at all Assam-Mizoram borders," said the order.
The vehicles, it said, will be released only after the officer concerned is satisfied that no drugs were carried in them.
While there has been no official reaction from the Mizoram government on the latest move by Assam, many social media users from the hill state have hit out claiming the move is intended for harassment of Mizoram residents who can access the rest of the country by road only through Assam.
The Assam-Mizoram border violence had started on Monday afternoon at the Inner Line Reserve Forest area of Cachar district. Later, each state had accused the local police of the other of intrusion and opening fire without provocation.
The clashes stem from a decades old land dispute between the two states over "improper demarcation of the state border".
Tension along the inter-state border in Cachar and Hailakandi districts has been escalating since October last year, with frequent incidents of burning of houses and encroachment of land.