Nagaland to continue taking measures for amicable resolution of border dispute with Assam: Dy CM

Nagaland Deputy Chief Minister Y Patton on Thursday asserted that the state government would continue to take measures for an amicable resolution of the inter-state boundary dispute with Assam, while ensuring that the rights of the Naga people remain protected.

Patton, who also holds the Border Affairs department, made the assertion while responding to concerns raised during the Zero Hour by Advisor for Law and Justice and Land Revenue, T N Mannen, on a statement made by Assam minister Atul Bora in the neighbouring state’s assembly on February 8.

Mannen informed the House that the Assam minister had accused Nagaland of encroaching around 60,000 hectares of Assam’s land, which is “misleading and the record needs to be set right”.

On this, Patton said the border dispute has existed even before the attainment of the Nagaland statehood, and is “basically a case of return of the forests and other areas which the British alienated from the Nagas when they took over Assam in 1823”.

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“The ownership of these lands lies with the Nagas but was transferred and included within the neighbouring districts of Assam by the then British government solely for the purpose of their administrative and economic convenience,” he said.

The forest areas claimed are contiguous to the border of the present Nagaland state, he said.

The Nagaland Assembly had in 1964 passed a resolution requesting the Centre to appoint a boundary commission to demarcate the boundary between the two states, he said.

Somehow, this commitment was not fulfilled and no formal notification demarcating the boundary between Assam and Nagaland has been issued by Centre despite the agreements, he said.

There have been seven interim agreements also, starting from 1972, with the last one in 1985, which have broadly provided for withdrawal of all armed police posts within and near the reserved forests, and also for not setting up any new post, he said.

The agreements also provide that Naga settlements that existed in the forest should not be disturbed, he said.

Further, no settlements were to be allowed to come up and a neutral force was to be deployed in place of Assam Police in all such areas, he said.

The deputy chief minister claimed that Assam, instead of withdrawing the armed police posts, as required by interim agreements, has further established more posts.

The Assam government has also allowed exploration of oil in the disputed border area in gross violation of the interim agreements and it has also permitted all sorts of new settlements in all sectors of the disputed area belt. The interim agreements are thus not being fully honoured by Assam, he alleged.

A standard operating procedure (SOP) issued in 2005 by the ADGP Assam (Border) is also not in line with the interim agreements and it has been bone of contention for the past many years but it could not be reviewed till date due to non-cooperation of Assam government, Patton said.

The inter-state boundary dispute saw a major development when Assam filed a suit in the Supreme Court on December 10, 1988 against the Union of India, Election Commission of India and the state government of Nagaland for declaring the 1925 boundary line notification made by the British as the final boundary between the two states, he said.

The Supreme Court in 2006 ordered the appointment of a local commission to identify the boundary between Nagaland, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, he said.

Again, in its order in 2010, the court had appointed two mediators for settlement of the dispute outside the court.

However, these initiatives didn’t see much progress, he said.

The Supreme Court thereafter in its order dated January 14, 2014 directed all the parties in the court case concerned to produce witnesses for cross examination, he said.

The cross-examination of witnesses from Assam has been completed and presently cross-examination of the representative of the Survey of India is going on, after which the cross-examination of the witnesses from Nagaland shall begin, he informed.

In this backdrop, the recent statements of alleged encroachment of areas in Assam by Nagaland do not arise at all, he said.

“The Nagas living at the borders claim the land as their traditional village lands,” he said, adding that the statement on the alleged encroachment made by the Assam government is to bring in the picture the 1925 boundary notification which has not been accepted by Nagaland.

The deputy CM also informed the House that the Nagaland Assembly has constituted a cabinet select committee on August 5, 2021, headed by the chief minister to examine the border issue with Assam for amicable settlement outside the court.

The district local committees have also been constituted in all the border districts, while a series of meetings and discussion had been held with the stakeholders to explore avenues through people-to-people initiatives for amicable solution, Patton said.