Nagaland govt passes 3-point resolution to resolve border row with Assam

KOHIMA:

The Nagaland Legislative Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a three-point resolution on the inter-state border issue with Assam after it was deliberated on the floor of the House on the last day of the monsoon session.

Moved by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, the three-point resolution includes the formation of a 10-member committee to examine all aspects, the intervention of the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah in the matter, and settlement of the issue outside the court with the involvement of local representatives from both the states.   

The 10-member committee will be headed by Rio as convenor, Deputy Chief Minister Y. Patton, and Opposition Leader T.R. Zeliang, as co-convenors, along with other top government officials.

The committee will look into core aspects of the decades-long border disputes with Assam including the various agreements made in the past with the help of the central government and submit its report within three months.

Under the second point of the resolution, the House has also resolved to request Union Home Minister Amit Shah to ensure the maintenance of the status quo along with the disputed areas in both letter and spirit till the issue is settled.

The two states share over a 500 kilometre stretch of inter-state border and have been in confrontation on-and-off since the formation of Nagaland in 1963.  The border issue has spiralled major clashes between the two states in 1965, 1968, 1979,1985, 2007, and 2014.

The Assam government had earlier filed a case in the Supreme Court for the identification of boundaries and resolving border issues which are still pending.

Touching upon the 16-point agreement between the Government of India and Naga People's Convention, Opposition MLA Imkong L Imchen said that the state of Nagaland was created with the assurance that inter-state boundary demarcation shall be undertaken under the Constitutional provision of Articles 3, 4 in due course of time, which could not be taken up till date.

The Assembly also highlighted that Nagaland and Assam have entered into an agreement on July 31 wherein the two states will hold discussions without any pre-conditions and try to work things out amicably.

(Edited by Shankar Turha)

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