Aizawl, March 29: The Mizoram government has proposed holding official-level talks with Assam in mid-April to address the long-standing border dispute between the two states, Mizoram Home Secretary Vanlalmawia said on Friday.
A formal letter has been sent to Assam for the fourth time, suggesting discussions at the official level before the ministerial-level talks in Guwahati. Mizoram is currently awaiting Assam’s response.
According to Vanlalmawia, these talks aim to establish groundwork and finalize modalities for the upcoming ministerial-level discussions. During the last ministerial meeting held in Aizawl on August 9, 2023, both states had agreed to conduct at least three rounds of official-level talks before the next ministerial dialogue.
“Since the August meeting, we have sent four letters to Assam, with the latest one proposing a mid-April discussion in Guwahati before the ministerial-level talks. We are still waiting for Assam’s reply,” he said.
Assam had earlier proposed holding the talks in the third week of March, but Mizoram declined due to the assembly session and the visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The border dispute involves three Mizoram districts—Aizawl, Kolasib, and Mamit—which share a 164.6 km boundary with Assam’s Cachar, Karimganj, and Hailakandi districts.
During the last ministerial-level talks, both states agreed to hold the next round of discussions in Guwahati before March 31, 2024. They also decided to maintain peace along the border and organize joint cultural and sports festivals in the border districts before March 31 to foster better relations.
The previous ministerial meeting 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 originates from conflicting colonial-era demarcations—one from 1875 under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) and another from 1933. Mizoram claims 509 square miles of the Inner Line Reserved Forest (ILRF), delineated in 1875 under BEFR, as its legitimate boundary. Assam, however, asserts that the border defined by the 1933 Survey of India map is the constitutional boundary.
With no clear demarcation, both states claim overlapping territories, leading to periodic tensions and violent clashes. The most serious incident occurred on July 26, 2021, near Mizoram’s Vairengte village, where a deadly clash between police forces from both states resulted in seven fatalities and multiple injuries.
