Assam-Nagaland border violence

On 20^th August 2014, Home Ministry submitted a report to the Prime Minister’s Office on 
the ongoing violence along the Assam-Nagaland border.

They have submitted the report after Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought details on violence along this border which resulted in death of nine persons and 10,000 people rendered homeless.

Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Nripendra Mishra asked the Home Ministry to send details of the situation along the border in Golaghat district in Assam where violence erupted about a week ago after armed groups from Nagaland allegedly attacked villagers in Assam.

The Home Ministry has already sent around 1,000 paramilitary personnel to be deployed along the Assam-Nagaland border to defuse the situation.

At least 18 protesters were also injured after police fired rubber pellets and resorted to lathicharge at Rangajan in Golaghat district.

Police said a group of protesters turned violent and attacked the police and CRPF personnel deployed in the area following a road blockade agitation launched by them.

The protesters were agitating against alleged failure of the security forces to protect the people at Uriamghat against the attack by armed groups from Nagaland killing nine persons and rendering over 10,000 homeless last week. 

What is the nature of the Assam Nagaland border dispute?

In 1963, Nagaland state was formed by taking the Naga Hills and Tuensang area out of Assam. This separation was done to curtail the movement of hostile Nagas.

Since it formation, Nagaland has been demanding some portions that the Assam hills and believes historically belongs to it.

The Nagaland government has been insisting that a 16-point agreement of 1960, which led to the creation of Nagaland, also included “restoration” of all Naga territories that had been transferred out of the Naga Hills after the British annexed Assam in 1826.

The Assam government’s is rejecting proposal of Nagaland and maintaining stand to the boundary “constitutionally” as decided on December 1, 1963, when the Nagaland state was created.

Assam government wants no change in the current border demarcation, which is a constitutional boundary. Nagaland is refusing to accept this and instead wants to follow the historical boundary that was demarcated before the colonial rule.

How much land is under border dispute between both states?

Assam and Nagaland share a 434-km long boundary.

Current Assam and Nagaland state boundary:

Assam says Nagaland has been encroaching upon over 66,000 hectares in Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat and Karbi Anglong districts.

This includes over 42,000 hectares in Golaghat alone (the site of the recent trouble).

The encroached area also includes over 80 per cent of reserved forests. Assam says 

Nagaland has set up three civil subdivisions on Assam territory.

Nagaland, on the other hand is insisting that more tracts of land is under Assam’s occupation which belong to them.

The Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSC-IM), incidentally, wants the entire Assam tract south of the Guwahati-Dibrugarh railway track in these four districts in “Greater Nagalim”.

How frequent is border friction?

There has been a series of violent incidents since Nagaland was created.

Two major incidents took place in 1979 and 1985, leaving at least 100 persons dead between them.

On January 5, 1979, 54 Assam villagers were killed in a series of attacks by armed men from Nagaland in Chungajan, Uriamghat and Mikirbheta of Golaghat district, while over 23,500 persons fled to relief camps.

In June 1985, a major flare-up at Merapani, also in Golaghat, left 41 persons dead on the 

Assam side. These included 28 Assam Police personnel. In both incidents, Assam claimed that the attackers included Nagaland Police personnel.

What efforts have been made to resolve this border issue since it started?

The two states have held a series of meetings at various levels, including that of the chief ministers.

The Centre, for its part, in August 1971 appointed K V K Sundaram, then chairman of the Law Commission, as adviser in the MHA for matters of Assam-Nagaland.  It was known as Sundaram Commission.

Sundaram suggested a joint survey of the border, which Nagaland did not agree to. The two states, however, signed four interim agreements in 1972 to maintain status quo. But failed to resolve the issue.

On January 25, 1979, the prime minister wrote to the Nagaland chief minister to take firm action against miscreants on the Nagaland side of the boundary.

Since 1979, the Centre has brought the Disputed Area Border under its control and 

posted Assam Rifles as a neutral force to maintain law and order on the border. The force was later replaced by the CRPF.

In March 1981, the union home minister asked both chief ministers to resolve the issue through discussion while strictly adhering to basic constitutional aspects.

In 1988, the Assam government filed a title suit in the Supreme Court to determine and delineate the constitutional boundary of each state.

In September 2006, the apex court set up a three-member local commission headed by a retired SC judge to identify the boundary.

The commission has submitted its report to the court, but a final decision has not yet been made.