Representatives of Assam and Mizoram are set to hold yet another round of talks to resolve the decades-old border dispute between the two states. The meeting will be held at the Aizawl Club in Aizawl and will be attended by state ministers.
The two northeastern states share a 164.6 km long inter-state border that has seen several flare-ups in recent years. Six policemen and a civilian were killed and around 60 injured after violent clashes last year.
Mizoram’s delegation will be led by Home Minister Lal Chamliana and Border Security and Development Minister Atul Bora will lead Assam’s delegation. The Assam delegation is expected to reach Aizawl and will leave for Guwahati the next day.
Mizoram accepted the boundaries under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BERF) notified in 1875, covering the vast area now under Assam, as its de facto boundaries, the Assam government maintains that the boundaries under the 1933 notification were its constitutional boundaries.
Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sharma held a meeting on the border issue in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi in November last year and agreed to form their own panel involving all stakeholders to resolve the border dispute through dialogue. To this end, both the leaders have agreed to hold Chief Ministerial level talks from time to time.
