Mizoram proposes official-level talks with Assam in mid-April to resolve border dispute

The Mizoram government has made a proposal to Assam to initiate official-level talks in mid-April on the long-standing border dispute, a senior home department official said here on Friday. 

Mizoram Home Secretary Vanlalmawia said that a letter has been sent to Assam for the fourth time proposing that official-level talks be held before the ministerial-level discussion in Guwahati. 

He said Mizoram is awaiting a response from Assam. Vanlalmawia said that official-level deliberations have been proposed to prepare and finalise the groundwork and modalities for the subsequent ministerial-level talks. 

According to the home secretary, during the ministerial-level talks held in Aizawl on August 9 last year, it was proposed that official-level talks be held at least three times before the fifth round of ministerial-level discussion. 

"After the ministerial-level talks in August last year, we have so far sent four letters to Assam with the last being sent recently proposing to hold official-level talks in Guwahati in mid-April before the ministerial-level dialogue. We are waiting for a reply from Assam," Vanlalmawia told PTI. 

Responding to the previous letters, the Assam government had earlier intimated its proposal to hold official-level talks in the third week of March, which the Mizoram government had declined due to the assembly session and visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, he said. 

Three Mizoram districts- Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit share a 164.6 km long border with Assam's Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi districts. In the last and fourth round of ministerial-level talks in August last year, both states agreed to hold the next round of ministerial-level dialogue in Guwahati before March 31 this year. 

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Apart from maintaining peace along the inter-state border, both sides also agreed that the administrative authorities of border districts of both states will organise joint cultural and sports festivals, commencing before March 31, to improve relations. 

The last meeting, held in Aizawl, was attended by Mizoram Home Minister K Sapdanga and Assam's Border Protection and Development Minister Atul Bora. 

The decades-old border dispute between Mizoram and Assam 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 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 the most ugly turn was reported on July 26, 2021 near Mizoram's Vairengte village, where a deadly clash between police forces of both the states resulted in seven fatalities and several injuries.