Assam Mizoram To Hold Official-Level Talks To Resolve Border Disputes On April 25

Informing that Mizoram government has approved the visit of a seven member delegation, security sources in the state said that delegation will be led by Mizoram home secretary Vanlalmawia. security sources engaged in the process said, “We need to address all unresolved issues. The modalities for future decisions between the two state governments should be finalised during these talks.”

Security sources said that official-level deliberations have been proposed to prepare and finalise the groundwork and modalities for the subsequent ministerial-level talks.

It is significant that the last round of minister-level dialogue was held on August 9, 2023, in Aizawl. Mizoram was represented by Home Minister K. Sapdanga, while Assam’s delegation was led by Border Protection and Development Minister Atul Bora. A joint statement released after that meeting reaffirmed earlier agreements and called for regular talks at both the official and district levels.

Despite past border tensions and the deadly firing incident on July 26, 2021, which claimed the lives of five Assam police personnel, both states have committed to maintaining peace and continuing dialogue.

The decades-old border dispute mainly stemmed from two conflicting colonial-era demarcations – one from 1875 under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) and another from 1933.

Mizoram claims that 509 square miles of the Inner Line Reserved Forest (ILRF) delineated in 1875 under the BEFR as its legitimate area or boundary.

In contrast, Assam claims the border defined by a 1933 map prepared by the Survey of India in 1933 as its constitutional boundary.

Since August 2021, both states have held four rounds of ministerial-level talks to resolve the decades-old border dispute.