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What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
GUWAHATI: Both Assam and Nagaland Chief Ministers, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Neiphiu Rio, met with Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his official residence, after they set up a meeting with them.
Taking to social media platform, X, the Rio shared a photo of the meeting and tweeted, “Called on the Hon’ble Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah ji, along with Shri Himanta Biswa Sarma ji, the Hon’ble CM of Assam. Grateful to him for his personal concern and commitment towards peace and development in Nagaland and the entire Northeast region.”
The two CMs talked about resolving the inter-state border dispute between Assam and Nagaland.
These are some of the key developments in the border disputes between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Nagaland.
Assam-Meghalaya
Assam and Meghalaya had signed a pact in March 2022 to resolve the five-decade-old border dispute in six of the twelve contested locations.
However, on November 23, 2022, the borders of Assam and Meghalaya had to be sealed because of unsettled demarcations. This led to five Meghalaya residents and one Assam forest guard being killed in Mukroh Village.
The fact is that along the 884-km long border, the two states have 12 disputed stretches. Historically, the dispute has continued to threaten peace in the area.
Both the states are presently, on the verge of finalising the actual boundaries in the six areas as part of the ongoing process to resolve the disputes.
Assam-Mizoram
The North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971, defined the boundary between Assam and Mizoram in Independent India; this is based on the 1933 notification.
However, the usage of the 1933 notification in the modern context is disputed. In 1972, Mizoram was carved out of Assam as a Union Territory. Following the Mizoram Peace Accord, in 1987, it became a state.
Initially, Mizoram had accepted the border with Assam but following encroachment, the former had started disputing the border.
Violent border clashes have left several dead and many more injured during the 2021, between Assam and Mizoram.
Tensions with Assam had escalated on July 26 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 injured. Six of the deceased were police officers from Assam.
Assam-Arunachal Pradesh
A milestone has been achieved in respect of the Assam dispute with Arunachal Pradesh. Both states share 804.1 km of inter-state boundary comprising across 8 districts of the former and 12 of the latter.
Prior to the Local Commission in 2007, Arunachal Pradesh had claimed 123 villages on historical ground. As per the decision taken in the meetings held in Guwahati in January and April, 2022, 12 Regional Committees were constituted for joint verification of the villages.
On July 15, 2022 the Historic Namsai Declaration was signed between the states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, wherein the 123 villages claimed by the latter were minimised to 86.
Sarma and his counterpart, Arunachal Pradesh CM, Pema Khandu, had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) over the long-standing border dispute between the two states. Home Minister Amit Shah had described it as a ‘historic occasion’.
Assam-Nagaland
The chief ministers of Assam and Nagaland held talks on the settlement of border disputes, on Tuesday, agreeing in principle, on oil exploration in the disputed areas for economic benefit.
Later, Sarma tweeted, “Happy to have got an opportunity to spend time with Hon’ble Chief Minister of Nagaland @Neiphiu_Rio Ji at Assam House, New Delhi. We had an engaging discussion on bringing closure to the ongoing boundary issue and other areas of mutual gains and collaboration.”
Rio told media persons that he had a fruitful discussion with his Assam counterpart on the settlement of the border dispute.
Neutral forces have been stationed along the contentious area along the Assam-Nagaland border since 1971. The two states share a 512.1-km border.
Multiple clashes have reported from the border, specifically, in 1965, 1968, 1979, 1985, 2007 and 2014. The Assam government had filed a case in the Supreme Court in 1988 to resolve the border dispute.
Course of Action
The New Indian had spoken to Atul Bora, Border Protection & Development Minister of Assam, who had stated that resolving the border issues was one of the biggest successes of the government.
“Border issue is an old problem and for which, those who are residing in Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram had to face a lot of problems. That’s why our CM Himant Biswa Sarma gave a proposal to CMs of Northeast and we had several rounds with discussion with the concerned CMs along with several discussions with the Centre,” said Atul Bora.
The Minister further blamed the earlier Congress governments for the prevalent mess of the Northeast. “Congress is mainly responsible for this mess. They didn’t have political will and (only) played divide and rule,” added Bora.
