 "The 50-year-old Assam-Meghalaya border dispute and the ‘historic’ agreement that aims to resolve it")
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma on Tuesday signed an agreement to resolve the 50-year-old boundary dispute between the two northeastern states.
The agreement was signed in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, other officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the chief secretaries of both states.
Shah tweeted a ‘live’ video of the signing, calling it a “historic day for the North-east”.
Historic day for the North-East. The signing of the interstate boundary settlement between the states of Assam and Meghalaya. Watch live! https://t.co/hvHL4lipun
— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) March 29, 2022
The two states share a 885-km-long border and the dispute has been ongoing for decades. What is the fight about? And how did Assam and Meghalaya reach an agreement? We explain.
Reaching an agreement
The Assam-Meghalaya border witnesses regular flare-ups. There are 12 areas of dispute between the two states and in August last year Sarma and Sangma agreed that six would be selected for a resolution in the first phase.
The governments of both the states prepared a draft resolution, which was submitted to Amit Shah earlier this month, after an approval from the Assam and Meghalaya cabinets.
According to the recommendations for the 36.79 square km of land, Assam will keep 18.51 square km and 18.28 square km would go to Meghalaya.
Delhi | Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma sign an agreement to resolve the 50-year-old pending boundary dispute between their states. pic.twitter.com/0ocEKgsuKR
— ANI (@ANI) March 29, 2022
How the two states arrived at an agreement
Meghalaya cabinet minister Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar told ThePrint last week that “five principles”, including the will of the people living in the disputed areas, had been considered to decide which area would fall in which state.
The governments of Assam and Meghalaya set up regional committees headed by cabinet ministers from the two states to study these areas. The committees adopted a “five-phase approach”, which included the exchange of records, joint field visits, detailed deliberations, negotiations, and then prepared the final recommendations. In each of the areas, the committees would take into account the composition of the local population, reports ThePrint.
What opposition leaders have to say
After the joint proposal by the two states to sign the agreement last week, opposition parties in Assam termed the move “unconstitutional” and said it effectively meant “sacrificing land” to the neighbouring hill state.
Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia of the Congress alleged that Sarma had gone ahead and submitted a proposal to Amit Shah “without even a discussion in the state Assembly”.
The history of the dispute
The dispute between Assam and Meghalaya started in the early 1970s. Meghalaya was carved out of Assam under the Assam Reorganisation Act, 1971, a law that the newly formed state challenged. The separate state was formed a year later, in 1972.
The border row started because of different understanding of the demarcation of boundaries in the initial agreement. Which are the disputed areas?
The disputed border areas are Upper Tarabari, Gazang reserve forest, Hahim, Langpih, Borduar, Boklapara, Nongwah, Matamur, Khanapara-Pilangkata, Deshdemoreah Block I and Block II, Khanduli and Retacherra.
The six areas on which agreement has been reached in the first phase are reportedly Tarabari, Gijang, Hahim, Baklapara, Khanapara-Pilingkata, and Ratacherra.
However, the most-contested region remains Langpih.
The village is at the border of Assam’s Kamrup district and Meghalaya’s West Khasi district. The British clubbed the village with Kamrup district, but after Independence it was reportedly handed over to United Khasi and Jaintia Hills district, which is part of Meghalaya. Since the formation of Meghalaya in the early 1970s, both states have made contesting claims on the actual demarcation of the village, according to a report in The Indian Express.
Langpih is not part of the sites which have been named in Tuesday’s agreement, but in November 2021 both Sarma and Sangma visited the village.
“People living at the disputed border areas have suffered immensely during the last 50 years and keeping this in view, both the governments have come forward to settle the issue through dialogue,” Sangma had said during the visit.
As part of confidence building measure and to find lasting solution to the decade old inter-state border issue between Assam & Meghalaya, I & HCM Meghalaya Sri @SangmaConrad visited Lower Lumpi in Kamrup and attended a program there.@narendramodi @AmitShah @PMOIndia @HMOIndia pic.twitter.com/8lVstodsos
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) November 16, 2021
Past clashes and controversies
In August 2021, tension erupted between both the states once again. An Assam police officer allegedly misbehaved with two men from Meghalaya in Umlapher area in Assam’s West Karbi Anglong district. Soon after, crowds gathered on both sides of the border and a Meghalaya officer was injured while managing it.
The situation intensified after Meghalaya residents reportedly tried to cross into Assam near Umlapher. When police officials from Karbi Anglong tried to control the mob, it led to a face-off between security officials of both states.
There was yet another row involving former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi’s government guest house. Located on a small hillock in Khanapara-Pilangakata block, it was often claimed by Meghalaya as part of its territory, reports India Today.
Border disputes with other states
Meghalaya is not the only state that has a border dispute with Assam. Clashes with other states carved out of Assam – Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, and Nagaland – are common.
Between 1979 and 2021, border disputes led to 157 deaths. At least 361 persons were injured and more than 65,729 have been displaced, according to the Rights & Risks Analysis Group, a New Delhi-based think-tank.
Out of the 157 reported deaths, the maximum number of deaths took place in the Assam-Nagaland border dispute with 136 deaths, followed by the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border dispute with 10 deaths, the Assam-Mizoram border dispute with seven deaths, and the Assam-Meghalaya border dispute with four deaths.
Tuesday’s resolution then is a step in the right direction.
The Meghalaya chief minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah pushed for the differences between the two states to be resolved. “If India and Bangladesh can resolve the border issues then why can’t states also, this is the stand they took,” said Sangma.
Yes, there has been a lot of push from PM, from HM that they would like to see that these differences (Assam-Meghalaya border issue) are resolved because if India & Bangladesh can resolve the border issues then why can't the states also - this is the stand they took: Meghalaya CM pic.twitter.com/MfepxQhz4j
— ANI (@ANI) March 29, 2022
This is, however, the beginning. The matter is not completely resolved. The two states have to come to an agreement on six more areas of dispute. “Further, a survey will be done by the Survey of India with both states’ involvement, and when that’s done, actual demarcation will take place,” Sangma told ANI.
With inputs from agencies
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