Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday announced that the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border dispute affecting over 700 kilometres of boundaries between the two states, pending since 1972, has been resolved by both States.

Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma and Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu signed the agreement in the presence of the Home Minister. Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and senior officials from the Centre and the two States were present on the occasion.

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Describing the resolution of the dispute a historic moment, the home minister said the two states have accepted the Local Commission’s report, which had remained controversial for years, either in courts or at Government level. Shah congratulated the two chief ministers and Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju for the agreement.

He said the two CMs had formed regional committees and talked to local people and villagers, to arrive at a resolution of the dispute. Thursday’s agreement will prove to be a milestone in the direction of realizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of a developed, peaceful and conflict-free Northeast.

The agreement between the two states ends the dispute relating to 123 villages along their boundaries. It has kept in view the historical perspective, demographic profile, administrative convenience, proximity to the border and aspirations of the residents.

Under the agreement, both state governments have agreed that this agreement will be final with regards to these 123 disputed villages and neither of the States will make any new claim related to any area or village in future.

After the agreement, a detailed survey will be carried out by the Survey of India in the presence of representatives of both the state governments to determine the boundaries of both the states.

Shah said that since 2018, the Government of India has signed several accords including BRU, NLFT, Karbi Anglong, tribal peace accord to establish peace and end violence in the Northeast.

As a result of these agreements, peace has started prevailing in the entire North East and so far more than 8000 armed youth have shunned violence and joined the mainstream.

Shah said that compared to 2014, there has been a 67 per cent reduction in incidents of violence, 60 per cent reduction in the number of deaths of security forces and 83 per cent reduction in the number of civilian deaths in the North East, which is a big achievement of the government.

He said the Modi Government has withdrawn AFSPA from many places in the Northeast – 70 per cent police stations in Assam, 15 police stations in six districts in Manipur, all but three districts in Arunachal Pradesh, seven districts in Nagaland, and entire Tripura and Meghalaya are now free from AFSPA.

The home minister said that due to the efforts of the Modi government, all-round development is visible in the entire Northeast today and this entire region is on the path of progress. He said that the Prime Minister himself has visited this region more than 50 times and has always promoted its language, culture, literature, costumes and food.

He said that by witnessing the local Bihu dance during the Bihu festival in Assam recently, which created a world record, Prime Minister Modi had made it world famous.

Shah said that resolution of the border dispute should have been found immediately after Independence, and now it is being done in the 75th year of independence.