According to PTI, Union Home Minister Amit Shah stated on Saturday that the inter-state boundary dispute between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh will be resolved by next year. During his two-day visit to Arunachal Pradesh, Shah paid a visit to the Ramakrishna Mission Ashram in Narottam Nagar, Tirap district. Along with Shah, Union law minister Kiren Rijiju paid a visit to the Ashram.

Shah claimed that efforts are underway to eradicate the northeast insurgency, claiming that 9,000 militants from the region have surrendered during the last eight years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration.

He stated that the governments of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam were working to resolve the inter-state boundary dispute amicably and permanently. “Guns and petrol bombs are no longer carried by Northeast youths. They now have laptops and are starting businesses. This is the region’s development path, as envisioned by the Centre “According to PTI, Shah stated.

Arunachal Pradesh shares an 804-kilometer border with Assam. Though there was no conflict at first, allegations of residents of one state encroaching on the land of the other have led to disputes and violence over the years. The issue has been litigated in the Supreme Court since 1989.

Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s and Shah’s insistence, both states agreed to settle their border dispute through negotiations last year.

The two states’ border dispute began in 1873, when the British implemented the inner-line regulation, which established an imaginary boundary between the plains and hills areas north of Assam. People from outside Arunachal Pradesh must obtain permits before entering the state, according to an inner-line regulation that still exists.

North East Frontier Tracts and later North East Frontier Agency were the names given to the area that was’separated’ from Assam (NEFA). Following independence, it fell under the administrative jurisdiction of Assam.

NEFA was renamed Arunachal Pradesh in 1972 and given union territory status, before becoming a full-fledged state in 1987. However, before it received its current boundaries, a committee led by former Assam chief minister Gopinath Bordoloi transferred to Assam around 3650 sq km of land that had previously belonged to NEFA.

This transfer, which was made without consulting the people or the NEFA administration, is the main point of contention between the two states, as Arunachal Pradesh does not recognise it.

In the presence of union home minister Amit Shah, the chief ministers of Assam and Meghalaya signed a deal in New Delhi last month to resolve 6 of the 12 points of contention along their border.

The two-day visit of Amit Shah

Shah is scheduled to attend public events, inaugurate various development projects, and interact with personnel of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB)— the Central Armed Police Forces under the ministry of home affairs deployed in the region to guard the border and maintain the internal security of the state during his two-day visit to the northeastern state.

Shah also attended the Ramakrishna Mission’s Golden Jubilee Celebrations in Narottam Nagar, Tirap district. He laid the foundation stone for a 51-foot bronze statue of Bhagwan Parashuram in the Lohit district’s Parshuram Kund.

On the second day, Shah will meet with social organisations in Namsai town at 9.30 a.m. and then pray at the Golden Pagoda Temple nearby.

At 11 a.m. on Sunday, he will attend a public meeting and dedicate various development projects in the Namsai area.

Later that day, the Shah will meet with Army, ITBP, SSB, Assam Rifles, Border Road Organization, and National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDLC) personnel at Namsai to discuss security and development.