In response to a question from Nampong MLA Laisam Simai about why Changlang district was excluded from the Namsai Declaration on resolving the Assam-Arunachal border dispute, Chief Minister Pema Khandu informed that the reason Changlang district missed the Namsai Declaration was that the district administration had failed to submit the report to the local commission on time.
Minister in-charge Mama Natung also informed that on 1 June, 2022, 12 regional committees were constituted to address the Arunachal Pradesh-Assam border dispute, including a committee for Changlang district. However, at a later stage, the Government of Assam raised objections regarding Changlang district, citing that no villages from Changlang were included in the 123 disputed villages listed in the local commission report of 2014.
Consequently, the regional committee for Changlang district was not reconstituted. In 2024, six regional committees were reconstituted for the districts of Pakke-Kessang, Papum Pare, Kamle, Lower Siang, Lower Dibang Valley, and Longding, with Changlang district remaining excluded from the process.
The government feels that Assam did not honour the agreement by excluding Changlang from the final recommendation. The government has requested the Government of Assam to resolve the Changlang district issue, as it believes that its exclusion from the regional committee process highlights a selective application of the Namsai Declaration, which explicitly states that all border issues between Assam and Arunachal will be confined to those raised before the local commission in 2007.
We cannot choose our neighbours, and they are not going anywhere. Therefore, peace and coexistence are the only options. The conflicts between neighbours have turned deadly, so we must learn from the past and not repeat the same mistakes as before.