Nagaland Deputy Chief Minister, Y Patton and Assam Environment, Forests and Climate Change Minister, Chandra Mohan Patowary during the meeting at Bidyapur.
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Dy CM Y Patton and Assam Forest Minister Patowary pitches for CM level talk
Morung Express News
Dimapur | August 23
The recent eviction of allegedly illegal immigrants from the disputed Assam-Nagaland border has reportedly further warmed relations between the two states long embroiled in a thorny territorial dispute. On August 23, almost a month since the eviction drive began in the Uriamghat area bordering Wokha, the Assam government played host to the Nagaland government in the Disputed Area Belt shared by the two states in what was assumed to be a consultative meeting.
The setting was Bidyapur, near Ralan, a once thriving market town in the Disputed Area Belt (DAB) before it was demolished as part of an eviction drive, promoted as a joint effort between the Assam and Nagaland governments.
The conclave had Nagaland Deputy Chief Minister, Y Patton and Assam Environment, Forests and Climate Change Minister, Chandra Mohan Patowary assembling at a place backdropped by concrete rubble and rumpled CGI roofing.
Each Minister led a delegation of high ranking officials from both states. Sarupathar MLA Biswajit Phukan, and Bhandari MLA, Achumbemo Kikon, representing the border areas on both sides, were in attendance.
The atmosphere was one of warmth, and official courtesy, with both sides calling for bettering relations and standing together against an imagined existential threat appearing in the form of illegal immigration.
The Nagaland Deputy CM, in his address, conveyed the Nagaland state government’s support to the eviction drive, stating that the trouble lay not between the two neighbours but was posed by illegal immigrants, allegedly from Bangladesh. While Patton said that eviction was not targeted at genuine Indian Muslims, both him and Patowary blamed the previous Congress regimes in Assam for encouraging the settling of illegal immigrants on disputed lands.
Status Quo
He called for maintaining “status quo” in the DAB till the dispute gets settled by the Supreme Court. Assam had taken the boundary dispute to the Supreme Court in 1988, and which continues unresolved till date.
Pending settlement in court, he proposed the prospect of an out-of-court settlement in the form of a bilateral agreement between the two states. According to him, the two governments are mulling such a possibility. For the time being, he said, “Let us not take up any activity in the Disputed Area Belt.”
The Assam government had announced the two states jointly planting trees in the evicted areas. On this, Patton suggested that it be withheld for the interim, citing the chances of friction in an already fragile border environment. On the question of fencing the evicted lands, he informed that this was taken up at the Chief Ministerial level, after which the Assam Chief Minister called for a halt to it.
He said that the Nagaland government was supportive of the eviction drive but one that should not intrude into Nagaland territory.
He further called for the Central Reserve Police Force posted to maintain peace in the DAB to maintain neutrality. The Assam Forest Minister, Patowary echoed a similar view as far as Patton’s suggestion for exploring the possibility of an out-of-court settlement was concerned. “Apart from a court settlement, there is the alternative of sitting across the table and hammering out an amicable solution,” he said.
While reminding that Assamese-Naga relations date back centuries, he termed the eviction drive was for the common good of the two states, and which must be completed.
On the allegation that the CRPF has not been neutral, and been favouring Assam's cause, he said that there is no question of partiality. He claimed that even on the Assam side, the neutral force is accused of favouring Nagaland. MLA Achumbemo Kikon was of the view that there is no need for a neutral force in the DAB.
CM-CM talk
The two Ministers later jointly addressed the media, announcing they will both brief their respective Chief Ministers (CM) about the day’s meeting. According to them, they will strongly pitch for a Chief Ministerial level discussion. On Patton’s suggestion for halting the plantation drive, Patowary maintained that it should continue till it is discussed by the CMs of both states.
MLA Achumbemo Kikon called for allowing due consultation at the Chief Ministerial level before arriving at a decision as far as the tree plantation was concerned. “At the moment, peace must prevail,” he asserted. Earlier, at the meeting, Kikon said that caution be exercised to avoid destroying existing plantations of the local indigenous population on the Nagaland side.
