The process for the second round of talks between Assam and Meghalaya for resolving the border dispute has become "slightly complicated", following the killing of six people in the November 22 violence at Mukroh village, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said on Tuesday. Assam and Meghalaya have identified 12 disputed areas along the interstate border. These two northeastern states, which started the first round of discussions in July 2021, signed an MoU in March this year to resolve differences in six areas.

"The situation (for border talks) is slightly complicated and we may not be able to go forward immediately. It could get delayed," Sangma said here.

Sangma's remarks came on a day when Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma Tuesday said that he does not approve of police firing on civilians, which should be resorted to only against terrorists and criminals.

The firing by the Assam police and state forest guards at Mukroh in a disputed area of the Assam-Meghalaya border which claimed six lives a week ago will, however, have no impact on the "broader landscape of relations" between the two states, Sarma told a press conference here.

Negotiations are on between the two northeastern states and any boundary adjustment will happen through the Committee formed for the purpose by them, he said.

"Taking the life of civilians is not acceptable ... Police should use its weapons against terrorists and criminals and not against civilians. I do not approve of the firing," he said after presiding over a cabinet meeting. Meanwhile, The NHRC has taken congnisance of the violence in the disputed area on the Assam-Meghalaya border that claimed six lives earlier this month, the rights body said on Tuesday.

It said the incident was an outcome of the long-pending border dispute between the two states and could have been averted had the controversy been settled earlier.

The Commission observed that whatever be the dispute police has to use restraint in such a situation.

"The National Human Rights Commission has taken cognizance of a memorandum by the chief minister of Meghalaya (Conrad K Sangma) that six persons, including one Assam forest official, had died in firing by the Assam Police and Assam Forest Guards at Mukroh village in West Jaintia Hills District of Meghalaya on 22nd November, 2022," NHRC said in a statement.

The violence at Mukroh village falling in the disputed Block-I area along the interstate boundary has resulted in clashes in the state's capital Shillong and six districts in the Khasi Jaintia Hills region.

The process for the second phase of talks to resolve differences in the remaining six disputed areas was initiated, and regional committees have also been set up.