New Delhi: The round of talks between Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Mizoram counterpart Zoramthanga to discuss the pending Assam border issue has been postponed to Wednesday after the former's absence for the meeting scheduled on Monday, sources told ETV Bharat.
"The meeting has been postponed due to the unavailability of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma," a senior official in the Home Ministry told ETV Bharat.
A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah held border talks with chief ministers of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam on September 15, both the CMs had decided to meet to discuss an amicable solution over the border dispute between the two states. The meeting was earlier scheduled to be held in the North Block on Monday, but was deferred.
As informed by an MHA official, Home Minister Amit Shah has prompted Sarma to expedite the talks for finding an amicable solution over the border disputes with neighboring states. "The Home Minister has asked Assam Chief Minister to take pro-active steps and resolve border dispute at the political level," said the official. Earlier on Friday, both the CMs reportedly held a telephonic conversation wherein they had decided to meet on Monday to hold talks on the border dispute. However, the meeting has now been deferred.
Chief Minister Sarma came back from Bengaluru on Sunday late evening and departed for Guwahati on Monday morning, the official said. "Before leaving for Guwahati, Sarma called on Solicitor General Tushar Mehta at his residence in New Delhi this morning," he added.
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Meanwhile, Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga on Monday called on Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and discussed with her several issues related to the state. Zoramthanga appraised Sitharaman about the humanitarian crisis in the state due to the presence of over 30,000 refugees from Myanmar who fled their country under political turmoil and related issues. He also reportedly sought intervention from the central government in these matters.
“The Union Finance Minister informed Zoramthang that she would take up the issues and try to assist the state government to over the problems," the MHA officials informed.
The border dispute in these states turned violent last year, resulting in the death of seven personnel from the Assam police and injuring several others in July 2021. Following this, a couple of rounds of meetings took place between the delegations from Assam and Mizoram to amicably solve this issue.
In 1972, Mizoram was made a union territory. However, the UT which was carved out of Assam was made a state in 1987. After initial acceptance of the border with Assam Mizoram gradually began disputing the border. Meanwhile, CM Sarma has recently said that his government's approach is to resolve the border dispute with other states.
