By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: While welcoming the suggestion of Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on having a mediator during the process of negotiation to resolve the long pending inter-State boundary dispute, Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma however maintained that the mediator should be a neutral body who should be insulated from politics.
“This issue has been lingering for the past 40 years because it has been politicized. I personally feel that political parties should not form part of this mediating group,” Dr Mukul said while speaking to reporters here on Thursday.
The Chief Minister however suggested that members of civil society from both states are better placed to act as arbitrators in the negotiation process.
“Members of civil society would have a better understanding of the ground realities prevailing along the inter-State border and this would be of great help in resolving this long pending issue,” he said.
When asked his views on Gogoi’s stance against the Union Government’s intervention on the matter, Dr Mukul said that he has also been briefed by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram that Assam is not agreeable to the constitution of a Boundary Commission as recommended by the Meghalaya Assembly.
“I have also stated in the floor of the House that we need to re-strategise our approach since Assam had rejected the idea of a Boundary Commission,” the Chief Minister said.
About the Assam Chief Minister’s aversion to the idea of the Supreme Court stepping in to settle the matter like in the case of Nagaland, Dr Mukul said that he is also not inclined to the idea of approaching the Supreme Court to resolve the matter.
“There are always possibilities that the decision of the court would be against the interest of the State,” the Chief Minister said.
He however insisted that the best possible way to settle the issue is to continue the dialogue with Assam.
“In the past two years, the Government has conducted an extensive exercise to resolve the matter. I do not think any Government in the past has done this,” Dr Mukul said.
“The Government has prepared proper documents to stake our claim on the land which belongs to us. The Assam Government had sought more time to study the documents submitted by the State before studying the nitty-gritty,” said the Chief Minister.
Dr Mukul said that he has strong apprehensions that even if the Government is able to arrive at the best possible deal for the State, there might be certain vested interests who would try to politicize the issue by alleging that the Government has sold out its land to Assam.