Aizawl, Apr 8: Mizoram and Assam will conduct official-level talks on April 25 in Guwahati to address their long-standing boundary dispute, Mizoram Home Minister K Sapdanga said on Monday.

Sapdanga said that Mizoram is yet to finalise the members of its delegation, though it is likely to be led by Home Secretary Vanlalmawia. He added that the date for the next round of ministerial-level talks will be decided based on the outcome of this meeting.

Earlier, Assam had proposed talks in March, but Mizoram postponed the meeting due to the state assembly session and the visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The decades-old dispute involves three Mizoram districts—Aizawl, Kolasib, and Mamit—sharing a 164.6 km border with Assam’s Cachar, Karimganj, and Hailakandi districts. The disagreement stems from two colonial-era boundary definitions: the 1875 demarcation under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR), supported by Mizoram, and the 1933 demarcation by the Survey of India, followed by Assam.

Mizoram claims 509 square miles of land under the 1875 notification, while Assam asserts that the 1933 map marks the constitutional boundary. With no ground-level demarcation in place, both states lay claim to overlapping areas.

The conflict escalated on July 26, 2021, when a clash near Mizoram’s Vairengte village led to the death of seven people and injuries to several others.

Since August 2021, both states have held four rounds of ministerial-level talks and several meetings at the official and district levels. The last meeting was held in Aizawl on August 9, 2023, where both sides agreed to maintain peace and uphold previously agreed terms.

The April 25 meeting is part of ongoing efforts to find a peaceful resolution to the border issue.