GUWAHATI: Reacting cautiously, the Mizoram government said on Saturday that there was no evidence to suggest the Myanmar military had hit the Indian territory in an aerial strike on “Camp Victoria” of the Chin National Front (CNF), an ethnic insurgent group in the neighbouring country.
James Lalrinchhana, the district magistrate of Champhai in Mizoram, told this newspaper on Saturday that pieces of shrapnel were recovered from the riverbed of Tiau but there was nothing which backed people’s claims that Mizoram was hit. The river marks the border between India and Myanmar.
Two days ago, the Young Mizo Association, Tuipuiral Group had claimed: “A bomb had not just hit Indian soil but also partly damaged an Indian vehicle which was near the Tiau river on January 10 at around 3:30 pm.”
Lalrinchhana said, “Others can say whatever they want. I am not aware of the basis of the claims.” Based on the findings, he submitted a report to the Home Department on Friday evening. There has not been any further communication. He said people go to the Tiau river to collect sand and there is a farmland nearby.
The DM was hopeful things in the area would be normal soon. Panic had set in among the locals in the wake of the aerial strikes by the military of Myanmar on the rebels’ camp, said to be located less than 100 meters from the river.
The Mizo organisation had demanded that government of India take proactive actions to stop the Myanmar military “jets bombing the Indian soil and flying over Indian airspace.”