Guwahati/Aizawl/New Delhi: The Chief Ministers of Assam and Mizoram met in New Delhi on Friday in presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and discussed the ways and means to resolve their border issues amicably.
A top Assam government official in Guwahati said that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Mizoram counterpart Zoramthanga, after the discussion in presence of Shah, decided that both the states would constitute committees for resolving the border disputes through discussions.
According to the official, the meeting also decided that the two Chief Ministers would also hold talks from time to time to take forward the efforts to a logical conclusion and a lasting solution of the long-pending border disputes along their 164.6 km borders.
Thanking the Home Minister, Sarma tweeted: “Heartening to share that, I along with HCM Mizoram Sri Zoramthanga met Hon HM Sri Amit Shah this evening in New Delhi. We reaffirmed our resolve to maintain peace and tranquility at our borders.”
Before Friday’s meeting, the two Chief Ministers during a dinner meeting in New Delhi’s Assam Bhavan on Thursday also discussed various bilateral issues.
The inter-state border is shared by three districts of southern Assam — Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj and three districts of northern Mizoram — Kolasib, Mamit and Aizawl.
After the July 26 violent clash, several incidents including few bomb explosions took place in the trouble-torn bordering areas. After the July 26 violence, the central forces have been manning the bordering areas of the two states and the security forces of Assam and Mizoram are deployed deep inside their territories. The worst-ever violence along the Assam-Mizoram border on July 26 left six Assam Police personnel dead and nearly 100 civilians and security personnel of the two neighbouring states injured.
The trouble between the states is due to conflicting interpretations of their territorial position. While Mizoram says the boundary line is the one laid down in the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act of 1875, Assam backs the 1933 demarcation.
–IANS