By : Satyaki Paul
On July 26, 2021there were violent clashes observed in the Assam-Mizoram border wherein 5-personnels of the Assam police force died due to a resurgence of 150-year-old border dispute between the two states.
The genesis of the boundary dispute between Assam and Mizoram dates back to 1930s. The state of Mizoram borders Assam’s Barak Valley. The boundary between the two states, which runs 165 km today, has a history dating back to the time when Mizoram was a district of Assam (back then known as Lushai Hills). Initially, the borders of the two states weredelineated by the British Raj in 1933, and this incidence acts as the apple-of-discord.In 1933, British demarcated the boundary between Lushai Hills, cachar district of Assam and neighbouring state Manipur. Nevertheless, The Mizos (indigenous people of Mizoram) do not accept this demarcation on the ground that the Mizo tribal chiefs were not consulted. Furthermore, such issues got complicated after Independence when Mizoram as a Union territory was carved out of Assam in 1972. The dispute has been simmering since Mizoram became a Union Territory in 1972 and then a state in the 1980s. The two states signed an agreement that status quo should be maintained at no-man’s land set up in the boundaries. While alleged transgressions have often happened over the decades, skirmishes have happened very frequently in recent months. This culminated in the violent clash (aforementioned in the beginning).
Nonetheless, the state of Assam has also boundary related disputes with Indian states such as Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram. A committee of Joint secretaries was set up by MHA in 2020 to review these border issues. In current context, a border dispute was also seen erupted between Andhra Pradesh and Odisha when Andhra government announced panchayat polls in a group of villages which were claimed by Odisha. In conclusion, to redress such situations, there are numerous constitutional provisions such as Inter-state council, Zonal council and even the Supreme court of India has original jurisdiction of such issues. As because such interstate disputes in the end weaken our national integrity. So, it is urgently required to solve such disputes.