Mizoram Boundary Committee Approves 'Approach Paper' for Border Talks with Assam

AIZAWL: The longstanding border dispute between the neighbouring states of Assam and Mizoram is up for talks in October this year as Mizoram State Boundary Committee has approved the 'Approach Paper' for the upcoming talks on Friday. 

The committee on Friday held a meeting in Aizawl under the leadership of its chairman and deputy chief minister Tawnluia to review the boundary issue.

During the meeting representatives of political parties and NGOs expressed their desire to resolve the boundary dispute with neighbouring Assam.

Skirmishes have been reported between Assam and Mizoram for more than four decades now since 1980. Buildings were set on fire and more than 100 people have lost their lives in these forty years because of border clashes between the two states.

Last year in July, six police personnel were killed and more than 50 people were injured in a major border clash between Assam and Mizoram which created quite a turmoil with Assam also imposing an economic blockade on Mizoram. 

The border dispute between Assam and Mizoram is more than 150 years old but it was not as serious until 1972 when Mizoram was carved out of Assam when this whole border dispute got a new spark and since then this fire of dispute regarding the border between the two states is burning. 

It is to be noted here that Assam and Mizoram shares a 164.6 km long inter-state boundary. 

The state administration of Mizoram established the boundary committee during the border standoff in July last year, which included representatives from all political parties and significant civil society organizations.

The representatives of the political parties and NGOs also decided in the Friday meeting to conduct a joint verification of boundary areas claimed by both Mizoram and Assam along with Assam representatives.

Mizoram is of the opinion that a 509 square miles stretch of inner line reserved forest notified in 1875 under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) 1873, a certain section of which now falls under Assam, is the actual boundary of the state.

Assam on the other hand thinks differently and claims that the boundary as per survey of India's map in 1933 is the constitutional boundary of the state.

Every angle will be discussed in the talks scheduled in October between the two states, where an amicable decision between the states is expected. 

Also Read: Fresh Influx Of Refugees Into Mizoram As Clashes Intensify In Myanmar

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