New Delhi: All eyes are on the winter session of Parliament that is set to go underway on Monday, November 29.
Sources said Union Home Minister Amit Shah is keeping himself engaged and well informed about the ground situation in Nagaland vis-à-vis peace talks and the Mizoram-Assam border dispute.
Sources said Shah would be meeting Assam and Mizoram Chief Ministers Himanta Biswa Sarma and Zoramthanga, respectively, on Friday (November 26) to end the border dispute between the two states. There is a borderline of 164.4 km and disputes between the two states for a long time.
On Thursday evening, Mr Sarma hosted a dinner for his Mizoram counterpart Zoramthanga.
"We are both good friends and like brothers, I was invited by Himanta ji for dinner. We spent good time together," the Mizoram Chief Minister later said.
Sources, however, say two chief ministers meeting on the backdrop of border issues was like 'breaking of ice' after the 1990s.
"Of course as state leaders they keep meeting, but we believe it is important that Mr Zoramthanga and Mr Sarma have met on the border issues may be informally for a dinner. This was as such the first political level dialogue between two Chief Minsters. In 1993, Assam CM Hiteshwar Saikia and Mizoram CM Lalthanhawla were supposed to meet in Guwahati, but Lalthanhawla declined to attend. He wanted a neutral place," the source told Organiser.
Earlier this year, the violence was triggered between police forces of two states, resulting in the demise of five cops from Assam on July 27 along Lailapur-Vairengte.
Mizoram was granted statehood in 1987, but the border disputes with Assam have stayed on. Until 1972, Mizoram was part of Assam till it attained Union Territory status.
Besides the Mizoram-Assam border issue, sources say Amit Shah will be holding a crucial round of meeting with Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio. The Naga peace talks were at an advanced stage, but certain objections from NSCN (IM) on the issues of Flag and Constitution. At the state level, intensive discussions are more informally between various groups and tribal Hoho leaders. Nagas have a sizeable presence in Manipur, which is going to the polls in Feb-March 2022 and UP, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa. Rio is expected to arrive in New Delhi on Saturday.
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