We shall be able to solve all things: Chief Minister Zoramthanga

 CM-level meet in New Delhi in August-end or early September

…Assam being the mother state of all the northeastern states, and taking some kinds of fatherly attitude in many things... their mission will be a stepping stone, and it will be successful: Zoramthanga

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Assam-Mizoram boundary talks leapt forward during the meeting of the Assam team led by State Border Protection and Development Minister Atul Bora with Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga at Aizawl this morning. Now Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Mizoram counterpart Zoramthanga decided to meet in New Delhi in August-end or early September.

After their positive meeting with the Mizoram team yesterday, Minister Atul Bora, Minister Ashok Singhal and Border Protection and Development Commissioner-Secretary GD Thipathi met Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga at his Aizawl office this morning. They discussed the boundary and other issues between the two states. Both sides agreed to take the discussion forward to solve issues. During the meeting, Zoramthanga talked to the Assam Chief Minister over the telephone and decided to meet in New Delhi.

After the meeting, Chief Minister Zoramthanga showed a positive gesture and said, "Assam ministers Atul Bora and Ashok Singhal had a cordial meeting with our Home Minister and Revenue Minister with the help of officials. It was a good start. I believe that we shall be able to solve all the problems, apart from that of the border. Ours is a negotiation making a good understanding for solving all problems. We will start from the easiest one (border issues). After solving the easiest one, the difficult ones will be much easier to solve."

He further said, "I just talked by telephone with Himanta Ji, the Chief Minister of Assam. We have planned to meet sometime later, maybe, at the end of August or the beginning of September, in New Delhi. And our delegation also decided to meet again in Guwahati to pursue the issues they left here. Assam being the mother state of all the northeastern states and taking some kind of fatherly attitude in many things, I believe that we shall be able to solve all things. And their mission will be a stepping stone, and it will be successful."

Zoramthanga said, "We are trying from the minister level to the Chief Ministers' level. We will try to solve everything."

Talking to the media, Minister Atul Bora said, "Today we met Chief Minister Zoramthanga, sir. He is a senior and respected person. During the discussion, he showed a positive gesture toward solving the boundary and other issues. He even talked to our Chief Minister during the discussion with us. We feel we can solve the border issues with Mizoram treading the path we trod with Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. We thank the Mizoram Chief Minister for his cooperation and positive attitude. He is an experienced person. I think we can expect something more from him than others. We will meet again in October in Guwahati. We hope it to be a fruitful meeting due to the positive attitude of both sides."

Minister Ashok Singhal said that both the states were thinking positive to solve border and other issues.

The Assam team went to Mizoram yesterday with a goodwill mission that agreed to take the boundary talks forward.

Also Read:    Boundary disputes: Assam, Mizoram to take talks forward

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