Aizawl:
On the heels of the governments of Assam and Meghalaya signing the “historic” border pact on March 29, the Mizoram government on Friday said that the process to resolve the decades-old border dispute with neighbouring Assam has commenced.
Informing this, post a virtual meeting with representatives of Assam, Mizoram home minister Lalchamliana said that both the states have decided to appoint delegations to take forward the process of finding a resolution to the vexed border issue.
“While I will be heading the Mizoram delegation, border area development minister of Assam Atul Bora will lead the Assam team. It was also agreed that the Assam will make suggestions, on which negotiations would be held and also the modalities of the talks will be decided,” said Lalchamliana.
He said that both sides have agreed to maintain the status quo along disputed border areas.
Recently, the Assam government had accused Mizoram of undertaking road construction and electrification works within the disputed area, to which the Mizoram side has agreed to conduct a verification.
Over the years, the 50-year-old inter-state border disputes have resulted in a plethora of violent clashes along the border areas.
The border dispute escalated in 2021 after Himanta Biswa Sarma took over the reins of power in Assam marking the return of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state for the second term.
Alleged “forcible” entry of over 200 police personnel led by an Assam Inspector General of Police on the outskirts of Vairengte town in Mizoram-Assam border had further escalated the tension and resulted in firing between the two states’ police personnel that left six Assam policemen dead.
Since then, several efforts were made by both the sides and the Ministry of Home Affairs to de-escalate the border tension and find a lasting solution to the boundary imbroglio along the 165-km-long inter-state border.