Assam and Nagaland move to resolve border issue

A meeting was held on Saturday between Nagaland chief secretary J Alam and his Assamese counterpart.

Assam and Nagaland have mutually agreed to initiate a disengagement process to resolve the ongoing stalemate along the 547-kilometre stretch of inter-state border, HT has learnt.

The chief secretaries of Assam and Nagaland. (Twitter/@himantabiswa)

A meeting was held on Saturday between Nagaland chief secretary J Alam and his Assamese counterpart Jishnu Barua at Dimapur in the presence of Nagaland’s deputy chief minister Y Patton and Assam minister Ranoj Pegu in a bid to de-escalate the tense situation prevailing in two locations along the border.

There have been recent standoffs in the Dissoi valley reserved forest and Tsurangkong valley between the armed police forces of both the states, although no violence was reported.

During Saturday’s meeting, it was stated to be agreed that urgent and effective steps were required for defusing the impasse between the security forces to maintain peace and tranquillity in the areas around Ao Senden village and Vikuto village as they are known in Nagaland, and known as Jankhona Nala /Nagajankha and Compartment No. 12, respectively, in Assam.

After detailed deliberations over the issue, both sides agreed to withdraw their forces simultaneously and move them to their respective base camps within the next 24 hours.

The two neighbouring states will monitor the area by surveillance using UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) and satellite imagery with a view to maintaining the status quo, while the superintendents of police of the districts of Mokokchung (Nagaland) and Jorhat (Assam) shall ensure an orderly withdrawal of their respective forces and shall be responsible for it in the instant case.