The Assam-Mizoram border dispute saw tension escalate in the Gutguti-Gallacher area. According to reports, two abandoned houses were torched in Hailakandi district in Assam on 4 June 2021, allegedly by unidentified people from Mizoram. Additionally, they also constructed a structure on Assam’s territory. A case was filed with the Bairabi police station to identify the persons involved in the incident.

Vanlalfaka Ralte, the superintendent of police in Mizoram’s Kolasib district, told the media that abandoned houses were previously occupied by non-tribal people working at the paddy fields for the Mizos. He alleged that Bangladeshi immigrants had burnt the houses to flare up the border dispute between the two states. He, however, added that the disputed site falls within the territory of Mizoram and that the paddy field owners had land documents in Mizoram and paid land taxes to the state government. 

Hailakandi district Superintendent of Police Ramandeep Kaur, on the other hand, claimed that the area falls under the inner line reserve forest, spanning 509 square kilometres between the border districts of Assam and Mizoram. “Some temporary houses have been constructed 300 metres inside Assam’s territory by a group from Mizoram. These are forest areas, and we don’t have roads and proper ways of transport to reach the border area. But on Mizoram’s side, they have constructed roads to reach these areas,” she said. Some newspapers have reported incursions up to four kilometres inside Assam’s territory. According to Kaur, the matter has been taken up at a higher level by both the states.

Assam and Mizoram have been embroiled in a long-standing border dispute. Three districts in Assam -- Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi -- and three districts in Mizoram -- Kolasib, Mamit and Aizawl -- share a 164.6-kilometre border having several disputed areas. Despite multiple rounds of talk, the border dispute remains unsolved.
 
On 24 September 2014, a meeting was held between the officials of Assam and Mizoram in which the two states had agreed to maintain a status quo along the border. But since October 2020, several incidents of torching and encroachment have been reported along the inter-state boundary. In November 2020, alleged miscreants from Mizoram blew up two government schools in Cachar adjoining Haliakandi.

In January 2024, the Mizoram government established a border committee to resolve border disputes with Assam, chaired by Home Minister K Sapdanga, with Forest Minister Lalthansanga as vice chairman and Home Secretary H Lalengmawia as member secretary.

In March 2024, Suzam Uddin Laskar, MLA of Katlicherra constituency, alleged that some Mizos have erected approximately twenty houses within Assam's territory, causing insecurity among locals. Despite repeated appeals, Laskar and local residents claim, the police remain inactive in controlling the alleged encroachment along the border.

Laskar appealed to both the Chief Minister and Governor to address this longstanding border issue. Last year, he had petitioned the Assam Governor to take measures to reclaim 10,000 bighas of Assam land encroached upon by Mizos in Hailakandi district.

After the ministerial-level talks in August 2024, the Mizoram government in March 2025 proposed for the fourth time to the Assam government the initiation of official-level talks in mid-April regarding the long-standing border dispute. On 24 April 2025, an official-level dialogue on the border dispute between the Mizoram and Assam governments was held in Guwahati. It was agreed at the meeting that Assam government officials should respond expeditiously to the claims made by the Mizoram government in a letter sent to the Assam government on November 28, 2023.

In July 2025, Mizoram home secretary Vanlalmawia said that the state was awaiting a response from Assam to schedule the next meeting, which is set to take place in Aizawl. But tensions flared again on 15 August 2025, when Assam forest officials allegedly destroyed around 290 rubber plants in Saikhawthlir village, Mamit district, Mizoram. They claimed the area fell within Assam’s inner line reserve forest.

This incident prompted a meeting on 19 August 2025 at Bairabi near the Assam border, involving deputy commissioners and police chiefs from Mizoram’s Mamit and Assam’s Hailakandi districts. Mizoram’s deputy commissioner, K Laltlawmlova, asserted that the area was part of Mizoram’s Kawrtha forest division, while Assam’s Abhishek Jain argued that the destruction was due to a misunderstanding over reserved forest regulations, not a border issue. Both sides agreed to resolve the matter amicably and referred the matter to higher authorities to prevent further escalation.