Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma To Meet PM Modi In Delhi To Discuss Border Dispute With Mizoram

As the situation improved, the Assam government had revoked its travel advisory asking citizens to avoid travelling to Mizoram.

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New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, along with State BJP MPs, will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday to discuss the border dispute with neighbouring Mizoram. 

This comes as Assam and Mizoram have witnessed significant de-escalation in the tension prevailing at the bordering region.

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, along with State BJP MPs to meet PM Narendra Modi tomorrow in Delhi over border dispute with Mizoram, news agency ANI reported on Sunday.

Ahead of this, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) chief and Lok Sabha MP Badruddin Ajmal, who is currently in Delhi, had informed that he will be meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah to discuss the alleged encroachments into Assam by other northeastern states.

"I will be meeting Amit Shah today on this issue. No specific time has been given but I was asked to be ready by evening as they might call," he told ANI.

"Not only Mizoram, but all our neighbouring states have also taken some portion of our land. A specific boundary should be made. Mizoram has also taken some portion of our land in the past 6-7 months, they should leave it and then make a benchmark boundary assuring that no further encroachments will be done," he added. 

Ajmal, the Member of Parliament from Assam's Dhubri also said that he would write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue. 

Last month, tensions escalated between Mizoram and Assam over the boundary dispute after six Assam policemen and one civilian were killed in a fierce gun battle between both states on July 26. 

As the situation improved, the Assam government on Thursday revoked its travel advisory asking citizens to avoid travelling to Mizoram. This came after both states agreed to take forward the Centre's initiative of letting neutral forces patrol the disputed areas of the inter-State border for maintaining peace.

Taking to Twitter, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed about the development and wrote, "Pursuant to signing of Joint Statement between Assam and Mizoram today at Aizawl, interalia, to maintain peace and harmony between two states, Assam has withdrawn the Travel Advisory issued on 29 July, 21."

The state government's order withdrawing the previous directive stated that "In view of the joint statement issued today i.e. August 5 by the representatives of the Governments of Assam and Mizoram, the Travel Advisory issued dated July 29 is hereby withdrawn."

"Thank you Government of Assam. Let Peace returns!" tweeted Zoramthanga in response.

After a meeting between ministers and officials of the two states in Aizawl, both state governments had also issued a joint statement in which they agreed to take forward the initiatives taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and their chief ministers to end tensions prevailing around the inter-state border and to find lasting solutions to disputes through discussions.