Assam, Arunachal Pradesh ink agreement to resolve decades-old border dispute

April 21, 2023 38 Views No Comment

New Delhi, April 21 (MExN): The governments of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understating to settle the long-pending border dispute between the two states.

The “historic agreement” was signed by the Chief Minister of Assam Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Arunachal Pradesh counterpart Pema Khandu in the presence of Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah, in New Delhi today, informed the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in an official release.

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, Union Home Secretary and senior officials from the Centre and both the States were also present on the occasion.

It is part of another important step of the Prime Minster Narendra Modi’s government to establish complete peace in the North-East, the release said.

During the signing, Shah appreciated the efforts of Chief Ministers of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, in resolving the long pending border dispute and informed that both the states formed a regional committee to settle the dispute, talked to the common people and worked to include everyone in this effort.

“We all have witnessed a historic moment in the Northeast and India with over 700-kilometre long border dispute between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, pending since decades being completely resolved,” Shah maintained.

It will prove to be a milestone in the direction of realising Modi’s dream of a developed, peaceful and conflict-free North-East, he added.

As per the MHA’s release, the Thursday’s agreement between the two states will end the dispute relating to 123 villages along the border.

“Under the agreement, both the state governments have agreed that this agreement will be final with regards to these 123 disputed villages and neither of the States will make any new claim related to any area or village in future,” it added.

After the agreement, a detailed survey will be carried out by the Survey of India in the presence of representatives of both the state governments to determine the boundaries of both the states, it informed.

Meanwhile, the MHA further noted that the Government of India, under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, has always been acting as a facilitator for amicable settlement of inter-state border disputes with the active cooperation of the concerned State Governments.

Today’s important agreement between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh is a successful example of cooperative federalism and will provide a roadmap for resolving border disputes between other states, it said.

Shah further highlighted that since 2018, the Government of India under the leadership of Prime Minister has signed several accords including BRU, NLFT, Karbi Anglong, and tribal peace accord to establish peace and end violence in the Northeast.

As result of these agreements, peace has started prevailing in the entire North-East and so far more than 8000 armed youth have shunned violence and joined the mainstream, he claimed.

Compared to 2014, there has been a 67% reduction in incidents of violence, 60% reduction in the number of deaths of security forces and 83% reduction in the number of civilian deaths in the region, he added.

He further said that the union government has withdrawn AFSPA from many places in the North-East – 70% police stations in Assam, 15 police stations in 6 districts in Manipur, all but 3 districts in Arunachal Pradesh, 7 districts in Nagaland, and entire Tripura and Meghalaya.

Due to efforts of the Modi government, all-round development is visible in the entire North-East today and Prime Minister Modi himself has visited this region more than 50 times and has always promoted its language, culture, literature, costumes and food, Shah added.