AIZAWL: In a bid to resolve the boundary conflict between the two northeastern States amicably, constructive talks between Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma will take place on September 19, an official said on Friday.
The meeting will take place in the national capital, but the venue is yet to be confirmed, The CMO official, who is accompanying Zoramthanga in New Delhi, said. The official said that "the two chief ministers talked over phone on Friday and resolved to have a meeting on the border issue on September 19 in New Delhi."
Amit Shah, the Union Home Minister, attended a previous meeting on the subject that was conducted in New Delhi in November of last year.
The two Chief Ministers had already planned to hold the talks in late August or early September during a phone call on August 10 of this year.
Three Assam districts viz. Cachar, Hailakandi, and Karimganjshare a 164.6-kilometer boundary with three Mizoram districts such as Aizawl, Kolasib, and Mamit. The two neighbouring States' long-running boundary dispute is the result of two colonial demarcations made in 1875 and 1933.
Mizoram holds that the actual state border is a 509 square mile tract of inner line reserved forest that was declared in 1875 as part of the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) 1873. A portion of this area currently lies within Assam. Assam, on the other hand, asserts that the state's constitutional boundary is the one established by the 1933 survey of India's map.
Some territories that are now part of Mizoram are covered by the delineation from 1933.
On July 26 of last year, a gunfight between the police forces of Mizoram and Assam became ugly, resulting in the deaths of seven persons, including six Assamese police officers, and the injury of almost 60 others.
Following the bloody incident, the delegates of the two States met on August 5 of last year at the ministerial level and determined to keep the peace along the inter-State border and settle the disagreement through negotiation. The delegations have already held three virtual meetings in addition to two rounds of negotiations in Aizawl.
Both delegations resolved to keep the peace and take the necessary precautions to avoid any unfavourable incidents near the border during their most recent meeting, which was place on August 9. Next month, they also agreed to get together once more in Guwahati.
The Mizoram State Boundary Committee unanimously adopted an "Approach Paper" last week, which would be presented as the government's position on the boundary during the ensuing round of negotiations.
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