Assam won’t lose any land in Centre’s pact with NSCN(IM): CM Sarbananda Sonowal

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. (File)

There is no reason to worry about loss of any territory of Assam in the event of an agreement between the Centre and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) — or NSCN (IM) — Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on Saturday.

“The Assam government’s stand is clear: we will not let any change in the state’s geography in the wake of the Framework Agreement (between NSCN-IM and the Centre). The people of Assam have vested the responsibility on our government to protect the territorial integrity of the state, and we are committed to ensure this,” Sonowal said.
The Chief Minister was speaking at a public function in Sonari, in Charaideo district of upper Assam, which shares the inter-state boundary with Nagaland. Sonowal’s statement came in the backdrop of some Assam groups expressing apprehension that a sizeable portion of Assam’s territory adjoining Nagaland would be included in the neighbouring state once the Centre finalises the terms of the Framework Agreement it had signed with NSCN(IM) on August 3, 2015.

While contents of the Framework Agreement have not yet been made public, several groups, including the Congress and Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, allege that the BJP-led government at the Centre and in Assam had agreed to NSCN(IM)’s demand for inclusion of a sizeable part of Assam’s territory in ‘Greater Nagalim’.