GUWAHATI, August 6: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said that “only the Parliament of India can redraw the boundaries of Assam and Meghalaya”, if at all it becomes necessary to redraw the boundaries in the process of the ongoing chief ministerial-level dialogue on the vexed border issue.
Addressing media persons here on Friday after the second round of chief ministerial-level talks here since the Shillong meeting on July 23, Sarma, while replying to a query on whether a mutual agreement has been achieved on redrawing the borders, said that “the boundaries can be redrawn only by the Parliament of India.”
“Here it is a problem of perception with both states claiming territory (as per map/historical perspective) in the six areas of differences. So there will not be any exchange of territories in these six areas. We are going to basically align our perceptions in regard to the disputed land/territories,” he said.
“But of course, if in the process of such talks, any such redrawing of the borders become necessary, it would have to be sent to the government of India. We would both recommend it if necessary and it can only be done by the Parliament,” Sarma said.
