Guwahati: The government officials of Assam and Mizoram are scheduled to meet in Guwahati on April 25 to discuss the long-standing boundary dispute between the two northeastern states.
This was informed by Mizoram Home Minister K. Sapdanga on Monday.
K Sapdanga said that the proposed official-level talks will be held in Guwahati and Mizoram is yet to finalise the names of members of the state delegation.
Assam had initially proposed a meeting in March, but Mizoram declined due to a state assembly session and a visit by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The Mizoram delegation is likely to be led by Home Secretary Vanlalmawia.
Three Mizoram districts – Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit – share a 164.6 km long border with Assam’s Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi districts.
Sapdanga said that Mizoram delegation members are scheduled to leave Aizawl for Guwahati on April 24.
The fourth round of the minister-level negotiations on the same issue, held on August 9 last year in Aizawl, was between the Mizoram delegation led by home minister Sapdanga and the Assam delegation headed by the border protection and development minister Atul Bora.
The joint statement issued after the then talks stated that conditions agreed in the previous parleys will continue to be observed by both states, and officials of both states will hold talks to sort out differences and conduct detailed studies on modalities which were yet to be agreed upon.
It was agreed to hold the next round of talks between ministers of the two states before March 31, 2025, which, however, did not happen.
The decades-old border dispute mainly stemmed from two conflicting colonial-era demarcations – one from 1875 under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) and another from 1933.
Mizoram claims that 509 square miles of the Inner Line Reserved Forest (ILRF) delineated in 1875 under the BEFR as its legitimate area or boundary.
In contrast, Assam asserts the border defined by a 1933 map prepared by the Survey of India in 1933 as its constitutional boundary.
ALSO READ: Financial frauds dominate Mizoram cybercrime cases: Report
As a result, both states lay claim to overlapping areas, with no ground demarcation conducted till date.
The dispute escalated into violence on several occasions and on July 26, 2021, near Mizoram’s Vairengte village, a clash between police forces of both states resulted in seven fatalities and numerous injuries.
