Assam-Nagaland Border Dispute: Nagaland Cabinet to Meet PM Modi, HM Shah

The Nagaland cabinet plans to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma soon to discuss the issue the long pending Assam-Nagaland.

Nagaland Deputy Chief Minister, Y. Patton said that a letter has been written to Prime Minister Modi seeking a meeting with him to discuss the issue that has been pending for several years.
The deputy CM said the decision to meet the PM and the Union home Minister was taken at a meeting of the Nagaland cabinet on October 9.
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Deputy CM Patton along with senior officials, visited two villages under the Tuli area of Mokokchung district on 15th October to address the ongoing border disputes with Assam. Patton, who also holds the portfolio for Home and Border Affairs, was accompanied by A Pangjung Jamir, Home Secretary, and DGP Rupin Sharma.

The team inspected key areas of concern, including the Assam Police Commando Battalion camp at Septsuyong Lu in Kangtsung Village and Wameken Yimsen village. The visit was to assess the situation on the ground and engage with local stakeholders amid growing tensions in the border area.

Patton urged the villagers not to sell their land to non-indigenous people, stressing the importance of preserving local land ownership in the region.

So what is the dispute all about and since when did this dispute start?
Assam and Nagaland share a 512 kilometer border. The border dispute between the two states began in 1963, when Nagaland was carved out of Assam.
The Nagaland State Act of 1962 had defined its borders according to a 1925 notification when Naga Hills and Tuensang Area (NHTA) were integrated into a new administrative unit and made an autonomous area.

Nagaland, however, did not accept the boundary delineation and demanded that the new State should comprise the Naga Hills and all Naga-dominated areas in then North Cachar and Nagaon districts of Assam, which were part of Naga territory, created by the British according to an 1866 notification.
Since Nagaland did not accept its notified borders, tensions between Assam and Nagaland soon flared up resulting in the first border clashes in 1965 and this was followed by major clashes between the two States along the border in 1968, 1979, 1985, 2007 and 2014.

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

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio met last year to try and resolve the issue out of court with the cooperation of ethnic groups from both sides.

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