BORDER DISPUTE: Assam, Mizoram to prepare modalities

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Assam and Mizoram have agreed to prepare modalities for resolving the boundary disputes between them. The two parties reached the development at a meeting in New Delhi on Friday with Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla in the chair.

Assam Chief Secretary Jishnu Barua and DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta and their Mizoram counterparts PL Chuaung and SBK Singh took part in the meeting.

The Mizoram Government sought some time before signing an agreement.

In Hailakandi district that both the police forces have deployed their respective personnel in the disputed areas. However, at today's meeting in New Delhi the two parties agreed to prepare the modalities for resolving the disputes, besides reaching an agreement to maintaining the pre-April 2020 status through the withdrawal of their respective police personnel to ease tension along the border.

According to sources, the Assam side made it clear at the meeting that it won't compromise the geographical integrity of the State and that Mizoram must leave the Assam areas it has encroached.

Boundary talks between Assam and Mizoram have been going on since 1995. In 2018, there were intense skirmishes between the two States. After that, miscreants from Mizoram encroached upon Assam lands, followed by dismantling of their structures by the Assam Police.

The last such border skirmishes were in Hailakandi district. The Mizoram Police dismantled a makeshift camp of the Assam Police claiming the area to be theirs. The Assam Police also dismantled a structure erected by the Mizoram Police claiming that the area belongs to Assam.

The Union Home Ministry had to intervene as the several rounds of boundary talks at the deputy commissioner level failed to solve the disputes.

Mizoram claims that the demarcation notified in 1875 under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulations as the actual boundary of Mizoram. The said demarcation notified under the regulation was used as a toposheet to assess the boundary between Mizoram and Assam.

Assam said that people from Mizoram have been indenting to the forest areas of Assam in various sectors, and this is a continuous process.

The districts of Mizoram – Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit – share a 164-km inter-state border with Assam.

Also Read: Border Dispute Along Mizoram-Assam Intensifies, 3 Villages Evicted

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