Assam-Mizoram border talks tomorrow

A seven-member Mizoram delegation led by state Home Secretary Vanlalmawia left for Guwahati on Thursday to engage in official-level discussions with Assam to resolve the long-standing boundary dispute between the two Northeastern states, an official said.

The official-level talks will be held at 11 am on Friday, the official said.

Friday's talk is expected to focus on issues in which both states are yet to reach a consensus, technicalities and the nitty-gritty of the border issue, which are not possible to be discussed at length at the ministerial-level talks, he said.

The official-level discussion may also focus on preparing and finalising the groundwork and modalities for the next round of ministerial-level talks, he said.

The official said that the next round of ministerial-level talks might be held depending on the outcome of Friday's official-level discussion.

He, however, said that further official-level discussion may be required to be convened before the next ministerial-level talks.

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Earlier on April 16, Mizoram Home minister K Sapdanga chaired a meeting of state boundary committee to review the state's stance and necessary documents to be presented at the official-level talks.

He told the meeting that the Mizoram government's top priority is to ensure that the state's border is secure so that people can live in peace.

Sapdanga had also said that massive efforts are being made to ensure that Mizoram does not lose its territory.

Three Mizoram districts - Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit - share a 164.6 km long border with Assam's Cachar, Sribhumi and Hailakandi districts.

The decades-old border dispute mainly stemmed from two conflicting colonial-era demarcations - one from 1875 under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation and another from 1933.

Mizoram claims that 509 square miles of areas of the Inner Line Reserved Forest delineated in 1875 under the BEFR as its legitimate area or boundary.

Assam asserts the border defined by a 1933 map prepared by the Survey of India in 1933 as its constitutional boundary.

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 a clash between police forces of both states near Mizoram's Vairengte village on July 26, 2021 resulted in seven fatalities and numerous injuries.

Between August 2021 and August 2024, the two Northeastern states have held four rounds of ministerial-level talks, besides negotiations and virtual meetings at the official level to resolve the decades-old border dispute.

Chief ministers of both states had also met and discussed border issue on at least three occasions during the same period.