Shillong, July 29: The North East Students’ Organisation (NESO) has asserted that the Centre should be part of the border talks for resolving the long pending disputes among the states of the Northeastern region.
The suggestion was made by NESO in the wake of conflicts along the Assam-Mizoram border.
There was also disturbance in Assam-Meghalaya border over setting up of electric posts.
According to the NESO, the incident in Assam-Mizoram is condemnable as it had taken a huge toll on human lives, injuries to scores of people and destruction to people’s property.
The NESO had been sending numerous appeals to various state governments in the region to resolve the complex boundary dispute with utmost sincerity so as to maintain peace and harmony among the indigenous communities of the North East.
NESO had also urged the Centre to intervene in the best interest of the stakeholders on many occasions.
The organisation recently sought the immediate intervention of the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah on the vexed border issues during his visit to Meghalaya.
“It is understandable that border disputes vary and differ from area to area, however, NESO once again urge upon all state governments to be committed to solve this long pending problem once and for all and if necessary, the central government should be a party in these dialogues and NESO on its part will continue to encourage people to people contact and people to people relationship along the border areas,” NESO chairman Samuel B Jyrwa said in a statement.
He said the NESO also called upon all the indigenous people that this issue is not ethnic but of border dispute in which the respective state governments are duty bound to solve.
“If a solution is arrived at whereby borders will be properly demarcated with a unanimous settlement, then peace will usher between different states and the people residing along the borders can live without fear and in harmony among themselves,” Jyrwa said.
Besides the conflict in Assam-Mizoram border, it also recalled the past incidents along the borders of Assam-Meghalaya, Assam-Nagaland and Assam-Arunachal Pradesh which illustrate the pain and sufferings of the border residents.
Many lives were lost from the Meghalaya side during 2010 in the border clashes between Meghalaya and Assam and the situation is also not conducive along the Assam-Nagaland and Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border.
However, it appears that many levels of boundary talks bear no solution to this plaguing problem, the NESO said.
