T Sailo ready to fight for 'lost' territory

Aizawl, Aug 1(UNI) Former chief minister and Mizoram People's Conference chief Brig T Sailo today stressed that it was the collective responsibility of the Mizos to fight for their 'lost' territory.

''Every state and country will fight till the end than lose an inch of its soil. It is also our right to claim the true boundary of Mizoram with Assam, which was clearly stated in the Inner Line Regulation of 1875. If diplomacy fails, we will employ other methods to get back our lost territory. We will fight if need be,'' Mr Sailo said in a crowded press conference.

Incidentally, the octogenarian leader had planted his party flag at what is claimed to be, the 'true' boundary between Assam and Mizoram a few weeks back.

Mr T Sailo recollected that during his tenure (1977-1984) he had set up the Vankunga Commission to claim the original boundary, and lamented that his initiatives were never taken up by the succeeding governments. He said the original boundary is near Dholai bridge, where '46 boundary pillars' had been erected during the British period.

''However, we have to be self-sufficient and brave enough to fight for our lost soil.This is the same gospel which I preached more than 20 years ago: self-sufficiency in rice. Had the succeeding ministries taken up the initiatives I had laid, we would now have become economically self-sufficient, therefore unafraid of economic blockade,'' he said.

Mr Sailo, who ''had travelled every nook and corner of Mizoram'', while he was an army officer-turned-chief minister, said, ''Mizoram has enough river valleys for wet rice cultivations to meet our demands, provided we undertake double cropping. The first season will be rain-fed, while the second season will be fed with irrigation. My ministry had laid out plans for this more than 20 years ago.'' He also emphasised on alternative lifelines, which he said is 'the need of the hour', to avoid the fear of blockade on the sole lifeline NH 54. ''The roads connecting Tripura and Manipur have now been rendered useless. If we come back to power, we will reconstruct these roads into highways for alternative lifelines,'' he added.

T Sailo's statement came in the wake of the recent border tension stirred up by the murder of a Mizo youth near Dholai, which further resulted in traffic abnormality on the NH 54.

Meanwhile, the Mizo Zirlai Pawl (the state's apex students' body) has prepared a new Mizoram map showing the 'true boundaries', which they said have gone to the press for printing.

UNI