Guwahati: In the event of failure of political talks mediated by the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to find a solution to the vexed boundary dispute between Assam and Nagaland, the state governments of Assam and Nagaland have agreed to abide by whatever directives given by the Supreme Court to resolve
the dispute.
In a meeting organised by the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi, Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi and Nagaland chief minister T R Zeliang did not buzz from the respective known stands of both the state government in order to find out of the court political settlement to the dispute, informed the office of Assam chief minister here.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh urged the both the chief ministers to maintain people-to-people contact along the inter-State border to strengthen peace and harmony in order to avoid. He also urged both the CMs to find an amicable solution to the vexed border row.
The boundary dispute between Assam and Nagaland dates back to 1963 when Nagaland was carved out of Assam as a separate state. Assam’s stand is that it will abide by only the constitutional boundary between the two states while Nagaland government wants a resolution on the basis of history and traditions which are difficult to define.
To examine such claims of Nagaland, Government of India set up Sundaram Committee in 1971, with K V K Sundaram, the then chairman of Law Commission of India, as Chairman.
However, Nagaland government refused to accept the report of Sundaram Committee for resolution of boundary dispute though Assam government was ready to accept it. In 1988, Assam government petitioned the Supreme Court seeking its intervention to resolve the boundary dispute with Nagaland. However, mediators appointed by the Supreme Court too failed to find a solution to the problem. The apex court then directed government of India to facilitate a solution to the boundary dispute through political dialogue between the two state governments.
The Assam Chief Minister and his Nagaland counterpart agreed to maintain peace and harmony in the border areas,
On the boundary dispute, both the Chief Ministers agreed to abide by the directive of the Supreme Court.
As per the decision taken during the meeting, the Chief Secretaries of the two states will submit suggestions to the Home Ministry within two weeks, which is expected to pave the way for solving the issue.