Violent border clashes between India's north-eastern states of Assam and Mizoram last week left several dead and many more injured. Subir Bhaumik travelled to the region to find out how a long-running border dispute was affecting the lives of locals.The highway connecting Mizoram, a hilly state of 1.3 million people, to the rest of India is unusually quiet these days.Wedged between Myanmar and Bangladesh, Mizoram is linked to the Indian mainland through neighbouring Assam.Tensions with Assam escalated on 26 July after clashes erupted between police on either side of a contentious border point. The two sides fired at each other, leaving seven dead and 60 people injured. Six of those killed were policemen from Assam.

Why peace is fragile between two India statesMizoram officials alleged that 200 policemen from Assam, led by a senior officer, overran one of their police outposts at the border town of Vairengte. The evicted policemen, barely 20 of them, were joined by reinforcements, according to locals - and they retaliated after taking position in the hills overlooking the camp.Local Mizos also burnt down buses that had carried the Assam policemen to the border and clashed with villagers from Assam backing up their force.

For a while, it was like a war between two countries," said Pu Gilbert, a villager in Vairengte.The regional Mizo National Front (MNF) rules Mizoram and is part of Northeast Democratic Alliance led by India's governing Bharatiya Janata Party. Neighbouring Assam is also ruled by a BJP government. But that didn't prevent leaders on both sides from accusing each other of provoking the violence.The two states have filed murder cases against senior officials on the other side. Assam even advised locals against travelling to Mizoram.

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