Mizoram and Assam are set to resume border talks in August, marking the first discussions in twenty months aimed at resolving the longstanding inter-state boundary dispute. Mizoram Home Minister K Sapdanga announced on Monday that the next round of border talks will be held in Aizawl on August 9. The previous round of talks took place in November 2022 in Guwahati. “The Assam home secretary last week communicated to our home secretary about their intention to come to Aizawl on August 9 for talks. We conveyed our consent to the Assam government after consulting Chief Minister Lalduhoma,” Sapdanga told PTI.
The Mizoram delegation will be led by Sapdanga, while Assam’s team will be headed by its Border Protection and Development Minister, Atul Bora. Sapdanga expressed optimism that the talks will yield positive results, bringing an amicable solution to the border dispute that has persisted for decades. Although Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had agreed in February to send Bora to Mizoram in March, no further steps were taken due to the Lok Sabha elections, Sapdanga noted. He also mentioned that there had been no violations of the status quo from either side since the violent clash in July 2021, when police forces from both states exchanged fire at the inter-state boundary, resulting in the deaths of six policemen and a civilian from Assam.
Three Mizoram districts—Aizawl, Kolasib, and Mamit—share a 164.6 km border with Assam’s Cachar, Karimganj, and Hailakandi districts. The dispute mainly arises from two colonial-era demarcations in 1875 and 1933. Mizoram claims that 509 square miles of the inner line reserved forest, notified in 1875 under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) 1873, falls within its territory. Assam, on the other hand, regards the map prepared by the Survey of India in 1933 as its constitutional boundary. Vast areas within the inner line reserved forest now fall under Assam, while certain extents of the area, as per the 1933 demarcation line, are now on the Mizoram side. There is currently no ground demarcation of boundaries between the two states.
