Mizoram receives no response from Assam over proposal to defer talk on border dispute | Guwahati City News

Aizawl:  The Mizoram government has not received any response from Assam over the proposal to defer the third round of border talk between the two neighbouring states, said an official on Monday. 

The border talk was scheduled to be held on November 4 in Guwahati.

Mizoram home department additional secretary Lalhriatpuia said they had sent a written request to Assam last week urging it to postpone the border talk in view of President Droupadi Murmu, who is visiting the state on November 3 and 4.

They have proposed the talks to be held from November 9 to 11, he said.

“We are yet to receive a response and intimation about the date of the meeting over the boundary dispute from Assam,” Lalhriatpuia said. 

He said that the Assam government would finalize the new date. 

Apart from the President’s visit, chief minister Zoramthanga also raised concerns that home minister Lalchamliana, who is heading the Mizoram delegation, would not be able to be accompanied by either 

land revenue minister Lalruatkima or forest minister TJ Lalnuntluanga, both currently on tour outside the state, if the talk is held on November 4, the official said. 

He said that Lalruatkima might take part in the talks if deferred.  Mizoram shares a 164.6 kilometres long border with Assam.

In efforts to resolve the boundary dispute,  delegations of both states had met two times in Aizawl and held virtual meetings on five occasions after a violent clash in July last year that led to the death of seven people, including six policemen, from Assam.

More than 60 were also injured in the clash, which occurred in the disputed area on the National Highway-306 near Mizoram’s Vairengte village.

Chief minister Zoramthanga and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma had also met twice in New Delhi in November last year and September this year to find an amicable solution to the vexed border dispute. 

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