Mizoram Home Minister Conducts Boundary Committee Meeting Prior to Assam Talks

Aizawl, April 16 (NationPress) An official-level meeting between the governments of Mizoram and Assam is scheduled for April 25 in Guwahati to address the disputes along the 164.6 km-long border separating the two northeastern states.

A senior official mentioned on Wednesday that the Mizoram government will dispatch seven officials, led by state Home Secretary Vanlalmawia, to participate in the Secretary-level meeting concerning the interstate border issues.

The seventh meeting of the Mizoram State Boundary Committee, presided over by state Home Minister K. Sapdanga, convened on Wednesday to deliberate on the findings of a four-member study group established on January 25, 2024.

Present at the meeting were Revenue Minister B. Lalchhanzova, adviser to the Chief Minister (Political) Pu Lalmuanpuia Punte, Chief Secretary in-charge H. Lalengmawia, along with members of the study group on the Assam-Mizoram boundary. Experts on border issues and officials from the Home Department also participated.

Previous ministerial discussions between Assam and Mizoram took place in Aizawl on August 9, 2024, where both authorities reiterated their commitment to upholding peace and stability along the contested border. However, the fourth round of talks held in August last year concluded without notable advancements in resolving the disputes. “The earlier ministerial discussions (in August) did not yield significant results due to insufficient groundwork prior to the official-level talks. Thus, official-level discussions are essential before the fifth round of ministerial-level talks to achieve meaningful outcomes,” the official remarked.

The ministerial gathering of the two northeastern states occurred on August 9 last year after 21 months and marked the first meeting after the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM), led by Chief Minister Lalduhoma, assumed power in Mizoram in 2023. Following the August 9 meeting in Aizawl, Assam Border Protection and Development Minister Atul Bora, who led his state's delegation, stated that the discussions were constructive and both states were devoted to amicably resolving the border issues.

Mizoram Home Minister K Sapdanga, who led the state’s delegation, expressed optimism regarding the resolution of the ongoing border disputes. He previously noted that, following the third ministerial meeting in Guwahati in November 2022, the state government had submitted a list of 62 border villages to the Assam government that fall within Mizoram's territory.

The districts of Aizawl, Kolasib, and Mamit in Mizoram border southern Assam’s Cachar, Karimganj, and Hailakandi districts. Amid the ongoing border dispute, the border area experienced severe violence on July 26, 2021, when police forces from Assam and Mizoram exchanged gunfire near Vairengte village on National Highway 306, resulting in the deaths of six Assam Police personnel and numerous injuries.

Mizoram asserts that 509 square miles of its reserved forest, designated in 1875 under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) 1873, is part of its territory.

Conversely, Assam considers the border established in a map created by the Survey of India in 1933 as its valid boundary. The border dispute originated in 1972 when Mizoram, which was then a district of Assam, became a Union Territory, and the boundary between Assam and Mizoram was vaguely defined under the North-East Areas Reorganisation Act, 1971, without any physical demarcation.