Mizoram minister claims 62 villages along Assam border located within its territory

Mizoram Home Minister Lalchamliana said at least 62 villages located within the inner line reserved forest along Assam’s border fall within its territory. 

The Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) of 1875 designated a 509 square mile (1,318 square kilometres) inner line restricted forest area as Mizoram's true border. 

Assam, on the other hand, asserts that the border shown on the 1933 map from the Survey of India is the constitutional border. 

Three Assam districts, Cachar, Hailakandi, and Karimganj, share a 164.6 km long interstate boundary with three Mizoram districts, Aizawl, Kolasib, and Mamit. According to Lalchamliana, the Assam administration received Mizoram's claim in February. 

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"We submitted our claim to Assam in February. We are waiting for a response from them," the home minister told PTI. He said the next round of border talks with Assam is yet to be decided. Mizoram and Assam have held 3 rounds of ministerial-level talks to resolve the long pending inter-state border dispute. 

Additionally, the two surrounding states have frequently had virtual meetings. Six Assamese officers and one civilian were killed in the conflict's violent turn in July 2021, when police from the two states exchanged fire along the interstate line. 

The violent altercation that occurred in the disputed region close to the Vairengte hamlet in Mizoram also resulted in more than 60 injuries. 

Following the event, high-level delegation negotiations between the two adjacent governments to settle the contentious border dispute started in August 2021. 

Both delegations agreed that Mizoram would provide the list of villages, their areas, geospatial extent, ethnicity of the population, and other pertinent information within three months to support its claim, which can be examined by setting up regional committees from both sides to reach an amicable resolution to the contentious border issue. The last border talks were held in Guwahati in November 2022. 

The Mizoram government set up a research committee in January and presented its claim the following month. To find a peaceful resolution to the border conflict, Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga and his Assam colleague Himanta Biswa Sarma met twice in New Delhi in November 2021 and September of the previous year.