In the wake of the escalating tensions along the Assam-Mizoram border as six Assam police personnel were killed and several injured, the Union government in a written reply in the Lok Sabha said that there were seven inter-state border disputes in the country.
"The approach of the central government has consistently been that inter-state disputes can be resolved only with the cooperation of the state governments concerned and that the central government acts only as a facilitator for amicable settlement of the dispute in the spirit of mutual understanding," Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said.
According to available information, there are disputes arising out of demarcation of boundaries and claims and counter-claims over territories between Haryana-Himachal Pradesh, Union Territory of Ladakh-Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra-Karnataka, Assam-Arunachal Pradesh, Assam-Nagaland, Assam-Meghalaya and Assam-Mizoram, he said.
Here are the seven disputes:
Karnataka-Maharashtra
The Belgaum district is arguably part of one of the biggest inter-state border disputes in India. The district has a large Marathi and Kannada-speaking populations and have been at the centre of a dispute for a long time. The area came under Karnataka in 1956 when states were reorganised and till then it was under the Bombay presidency.
Assam-Mizoram
The border dispute between Assam and Mizoram is a legacy of two British-era notifications of 1875 and 1933, when Mizoram was called Lushai Hills, a district in Assam. The 1875 notification differentiated Lushai Hills from the plains of Cachar and the other demarcated boundary between Lushai Hills and Manipur. While Mizoram became a state only in 1987 following years of insurgency, it still insists on the boundary decided in 1875.
Assam, on the other hand, wants the boundary demarcated in 1986 (based on the1933 notification). "Why would we accept a Colonial era order? In that case, entire Mizoram was part of Assam before the Independence," Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on July 27. Mizoram says the 1986 agreement is not acceptable as the Mizo civil society was not consulted at that time.
Haryana-Himachal Pradesh
The Parwanoo region has had the spotlight over the border dispute between the two states. It is next to the Panchkula district of Haryana and the state has claimed parts of the land in Himachal Pradesh as its own.
Himachal Pradesh-Ladakh
Himachal and Ladakh lay claim to Sarchu, an area on the route between Leh and Manali. It is considered a major point where travellers stop when travelling between the two cities. Sarchu is in between Himachal’s Lahul and Spiti district and Leh district in Ladakh.
Arunachal Pradesh-Assam
Arunachal's grievance is that the re-organisation of North Eastern states unilaterally transferred several forested tracts in the plains that had traditionally belonged to hill tribal chiefs and communities to Assam. After Arunachal Pradesh achieved statehood in 1987, a tripartite committee was appointed which recommended that certain territories be transferred from Assam to Arunachal. Assam contested this and the matter is before the Supreme Court.
Meghalaya-Assam
The problem between Assam and Meghalaya started when the latter challenged the Assam Reorganisation Act of 1971, which gave Blocks I and II of the Mikir Hills or present-day Karbi Anglong district to Assam. Meghalaya contends that both these blocks formed part of the erstwhile United Khasi and Jaintia Hills district when it was notified in 1835. At present, there are 12 points of dispute along the 733-km Assam-Meghalaya border.
Meghalaya bases its case on survey maps of 1872 and 1929 and certain notifications of 1878 and 1951, while Assam wants to go by the recommendations of the Churachand Committee which in turn has been rejected by Meghalaya. Joint surveys of the disputed border segments have been undertaken in part and the chief ministers of both the states are scheduled to meet again on August 6 in Guwahati to discuss ways to resolve the dispute.
Assam-Nagaland
The longest-running border dispute in the North East is between Assam and Nagaland, which began soon after Nagaland became a state in 1963. The Nagaland State Act of 1962 had defined the state’s borders according to a 1925 notification when Naga Hills and Tuensang Area (NHTA) were integrated into a new administrative unit.
Nagaland, however, does not accept the boundary delineation and has demanded that the new state should also have all Naga-dominated areas in North Cachar and Nagaon districts. Since Nagaland did not accept its notified borders, tensions between Assam and Nagaland flared up soon after the latter was formed, resulting in the first border clashes in 1965. This was followed by major clashes between the two states along the border in 1968, 1979, 1985, 2007 and 2014.
(With inputs from DHNS, PTI)
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