GUWAHATI, April 8: The governments of Mizoram and Assam are set to resume discussions on their long-standing border dispute through official-level talks scheduled for April 25 in Guwahati. This was confirmed by Mizoram Home Minister K. Sapdanga on Monday.
The upcoming talks aim to address the decades-old territorial disagreement between the two northeastern states. While Assam had initially proposed holding the talks in March, Mizoram deferred the meeting due to the state assembly session and a visit by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
According to Minister Sapdanga, the official-level discussions will take place in Guwahati, although Mizoram has yet to finalize the members of its delegation. The Mizoram team is likely to be led by Home Secretary Vanlalmawia. Delegation members are scheduled to leave Aizawl for Guwahati on April 24.
The territorial dispute involves three Mizoram districts — Aizawl, Kolasib, and Mamit — which share a 164.6 km-long boundary with Assam’s Cachar, Karimganj, and Hailakandi districts.
The talks will follow the fourth round of ministerial-level negotiations held on August 9, 2024, in Aizawl. That round saw Mizoram represented by Home Minister Sapdanga, and Assam by Border Protection and Development Minister Atul Bora. A joint statement issued after those talks reaffirmed the commitment of both states to abide by previously agreed conditions and to resolve differences through official-level dialogues and further studies on unresolved modalities.
Although both sides had earlier agreed to hold the next round of minister-level talks before March 31, 2025, the meeting did not materialize.
The root of the dispute lies in two conflicting colonial-era demarcations: the 1875 boundary defined under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR), which Mizoram upholds, and the 1933 map prepared by the Survey of India, which Assam recognizes as the constitutional boundary. Mizoram claims 509 square miles of the Inner Line Reserved Forest (ILRF) demarcated in 1875 under BEFR as its rightful territory, while Assam adheres to the 1933 boundary.
Due to the lack of ground demarcation, overlapping territorial claims have led to recurring tensions between the two states. The dispute has even escalated into violence, most notably on July 26, 2021, when a deadly clash near Mizoram’s Vairengte village resulted in seven deaths and multiple injuries after police forces from both states exchanged fire.
