KOHIMA, FEBRUARY 19 (NEPS): Parliamentary Secretary for Border Affairs Y Patton today said that the border issue with Assam still remains unresolved. He said the issue cannot be resolved as long as the Assam Government does not find and return Nagaland’s original map which was reported lost from their end.
Talking to NEPS here on Friday, the parliamentary secretary said that the border issue with Assam was in the Supreme Court. But whether it is ‘out of the court settlement or court settlement,’ he said, nothing will progress unless the Assam government returns the original map, he said. Patton however said that the Assam government has assured to find the “misplaced” original map of Nagaland and return it at the earliest. Patton also disclosed that land encroachment from Assam particularly in Wokha and Mokongchung sectors is still going on.
He said on one occasion, Assam publics along with Assam police encroached Nagaland area in Anaki village under Tuli. “We had protested many a time with our counterpart about the development,” he said. “But whenever we protested, our counterpart too claimed about their land encroachment from Nagaland side.”
He reiterated that all these border issues with Assam would come to end once they settled the border issue. “But unless and until Assam provides us our original map, we can’t do anything,” he added. He, however, hoped that sooner than later, Assam would return it (Nagaland original map) as they had already assured them.
