Mizoram asks Centre to review border with Assam

The Mizoram Government has been making efforts to resolve the long-pending boundary dispute with Assam and has asked the Centre to review the inter-State border.

Background:

• The border dispute between Mizoram and Assam is a long-pending issue that remains unresolved to date.
• The border issue has remained relatively calm, except a few instances in 1994, 2007 and 2018 when tensions flared up. But because of timely intervention by the Central Government, a major crisis was averted.
• Several dialogues held since 1995 to resolve the border dispute have yielded little results.

Details:

• The three Mizoram districts of Kolasib, Aizawl, and Mamit share about 123 km long border with south Assam’s Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj districts.
• While Mizoram claimed that a 509 square-mile stretch of the inner-line reserve forest notified in 1875 under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation of 1873 belongs to Mizoram, the Assam side agreed with the constitutional map and boundary drawn by the Survey of India in 1993.
• The last border stand-off between the two States had taken place at Zophai in March 2018 when members of a student body of Mizoram attempted to construct a wooden resting shed there.
• The 2018 border dispute was put under control with the intervention of the Centre, which asked both the Mizoram and Assam governments to maintain the status quo on the disputed land till issues are resolved.
• A joint committee was also constituted by both the state governments under the Union Home Ministry.
• The committee carried out an inspection of illegal structures in the inner line reserved forest area along the Mizoram-Assam border, which was suspended again following a dispute at zero points in the Dholchera-Phaisen area in April 2018.
• The Mizoram Cabinet had in July 2019 declared that the inner-line reserve forest area belonged to Mizoram and is the actual boundary of the State.

The Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) has been constantly demanding the state government to immediately resolve the border dispute.

Source: The Hindu