Mizoram sticks to 1875 boundary notification in Assam dispute
The Mizoram Government on Friday reaffirmed its long-standing position on the inter-state boundary dispute with Assam, maintaining that a boundary notification issued in 1875 remains the only acceptable boundary between the two neighbouring States.
Mizoram Home Minister K Sapdanga informed the Assembly that this stance, supported by a consensus of all political parties and major NGOs in the State, has remained unchanged since 1958-1959, when the State was a district council under Assam.
Conversely, the Assam Government continues to adhere to the “Inner Line” of the Lushai Hills District as described in a notification issued in March 1933, he said. He stated that Mizoram’s stance was underscored in a series of high-level diplomatic engagements aimed at resolving the decades-old border dispute between the two northeastern States.
“Because the views of Mizoram and Assam differ, the Mizoram Government has taken numerous steps and approached the Central Government multiple times. Besides, the two States have held discussions on many occasions to resolve the dispute amicably,” Sapdanga said in a written reply to queries from Opposition Congress member C Ngunlianchunga.
He said that the council of ministers meeting held on July 8, 2019, did not “newly” accept the Cachar Inner Line of 1875; rather, it reaffirmed that this remains the Government’s original and existing position.
“Since the Centre has been aware of this long-standing dispute and has already taken steps towards a resolution, the Mizoram Government did not issue a separate notice informing the matter to the Centre,” he said.
According to Sapdanga, both States have been engaged in several key dialogues in a bid to resolve the vexed border dispute over the past few years.
He said that after the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) assumed power in December 2023, a high-level meeting was convened in Aizawl between representatives of Mizoram and Assam to discuss the core issues of the border dispute on August 9, 2024.
Representatives of both Governments met again in Guwahati for an official-level talk to further technical and administrative negotiations on 25 April last year, he said.
In an effort to ease ground-level tensions and foster peace and maintain good relationships along the border, the two States hosted a border cultural festival at Dholai in Assam’s Cachar district on November 25 last year, the Home Minister said.
Three Mizoram districts -- Aizawl, Kolasib and Mamit -- share a 164.6 km long border with Assam’s Cachar, Sribhumi and Hailakandi districts.
The border dispute between the two northeastern States, which mainly stemmed from two conflicting colonial-era demarcations, one from 1875 under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation and another from 1933, is a long-pending issue which has remained unresolved.
The dispute escalated into violence on several occasions, and a clash between police forces of both States near Mizoram’s Vairengte village on July 26, 2021, took a deadly turn, resulting in the death of seven people, including six policemen, from Assam.
Since August 2021, the two Northeastern States have held four rounds of ministerial-level talks, besides negotiations and virtual meetings at the official level, to resolve the decades-old border dispute.
