Border tussle: Meghalaya CM awaits panel report, seeks common ground to end dispute

Conrad Sangma also wants the opinion of the people living along the disputed areas to be taken before coming to any conclusion of border tussle as he awaits the report of a committee he formed to resolve border row.

New Delhi: Admitting the fact that Assam and Meghalaya have been facing a decades old border dispute, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, on Thursday, said that his government has set up a committee to go into details of the dispute and submit a report in the next 30 days.

He said that the Assam government will also set up a similar committee over the border dispute.

“After the committee submits its report, both the governments will resume talks to resolve the conflict,” said Sangma while replying to a query from ETV Bharat in New Delhi. The statement of Sangma comes after Assam government has accused Meghalaya of encroaching their land.

Significantly, Assam is presently facing a border conflict with Mizoram as well. On July 26, six Assam police personnel lost their lives after Mizoram police fired upon them over the border dispute.

Sharing his thoughts on the dispute, Sangma said that as many as 26 meetings took place between both the governments over boundary dispute till date.

“During the previous UPA regime too, there were meetings between the two State governments to resolve the decades old conflict,” said Sangma.

He said that talks with the Assam government are progressing well. “Assam Chief Minister has also reciprocated positively and hopefully the conflict will be resolved soon,” said Sangma.

Asserting that both the States have historical data to ascertain their claim over the border dispute, Sangma said, “Both sides will explore all evidences but we need to find a common ground to resolve the matter.”

The Meghalaya Chief Minister emphasised that the opinion of the people living in the disputed border area should also be taken into consideration.

“We have to take their viewpoint before coming to a conclusion. They have been the sufferers due to border conflict,” said Sangma.

It may be mentioned here that at the time of India’s Independence, Northeast India consisted of Assam and the princely states of Manipur and Tripura.

Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, and Mizoram were carved out from Assam between 1963 and 1987. Separate states were created based on history and the cultural identities of people living in those areas.

CM Sangma was in the national capital to inaugurate the National Peoples’ Party (NPP) Delhi office.

“Our party is the only national party from the Northeast. We will start making our presence in all major States including Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal among others,” he said.

The NPP formed by former Lok Sabha Speaker late Purno A Sangma is presently running the government in Meghalaya with 21 MLAs. The party has four MLAs each in Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. In the Nagaland Assembly NPP has two members.