Mizoram Submitted Its Claim Regarding Border With Assam In February: Minister

Mizoram Home Minister Lalchamliana on Wednesday said that his government has submitted its claim regarding the state boundary, including a list of villages, to Assam in February.
    
Three districts of Mizoram -- Aizawl, Kolasib, and Mamit -- share a 164.6-km-long border with Assam. After the border dispute in July 2021, the two states are in talks to find a solution to the vexed issue.
    
In the last meeting held in Guwahati in November 2022, the two sides decided that Mizoram would furnish the list of villages, their areas, geospatial extent, ethnicity of the people, and other relevant information within three months to support its claim.
    
These can then be examined by setting up regional committees by the two states to arrive at a solution.
    
Lalchamliana told the assembly that the Mizoram government submitted its claim about its territory, villages, and ethnicity of the people within that area to Assam on February 13.
    
Mizoram has also written to the Assam government requesting a clarification on it, and is still waiting for a reply, he said.
    
Replying to a question from ruling MNF MLA Vanlaltanpuia, the minister said the government has set up several permanent and temporary outposts along the state's border with Assam after the violence in July 2021.
    
So far, three rounds of talks have been held between the two states to find a solution to the border dispute, he said.
    
Besides, three virtual minister-level meetings and three rounds of meetings at the district administration level have been convened between the two states, he added. 
    
Underlining the measures taken by the state government, Lalchamliana said that a boundary committee involving all political parties and NGOs was set up in June 2021 to deal with the issue. 
    
A study group has also been formed in February this year to study and collect relevant information in relation to the state border, he said.
    
Lalchamliana had earlier said that Mizoram has claimed at least 62 villages in the disputed area as being located within its boundary.
    
The villages are within the extent of the inner line reserved forest notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) of 1875, he had said.
    
The border dispute between Mizoram and Assam is a long-standing issue.
    
While Mizoram claims that 509 square miles area of the inner line reserved forest under the BEFR as its actual boundary, Assam regards the map prepared by the Survey of India in 1933 as its constitutional boundary.
    
The border dispute turned violent on July 26, 2021, when police forces of both states exchanged fire, leading to the death of six policemen and a civilian from Assam.
    
More than 60 people from both states were also injured in the violent clash.