Dissent over fencing project
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: November 12, 2024 -

CONSIDERING the handful of reports in the first few months of the Kuki-Meetei conflict about Kuki-Chin armed groups based in Myanmar crossing over into Manipur and attacking state forces in Moreh town as well as their involvement in firing and assaulting Meetei villagers in Serou, Sugnu and other remote villages in the valley, it's not surprising that the Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF) is raising objection against the centre's move to fence the Indo-Myanmar border in Manipur sector and demanding reinstatement of the Free Movement Regime (FMR), which even if annulled would still allow entry/exit of scattered cognate tribes under visa/permit system.

Floated in the wake of the May 2023 communal violence in the state, the ITLF has been masterminding anti-establishment agitations in Churachandpur district, spearheading the demand for separate administration for the Kuki-Zo communities within Manipur and making it a point to brand chief minister N Biren as the architect whenever gunfights occur and Kuki people suffer casualties.

Notably, ITLF is also among handful of Kuki CSOs which either playact deaf and dumb in case of attacks on Meetei villages in the fringe areas or audaciously claim that Meetei casualties were due to accidental firing by the village volunteers.

As the objection against the border fencing is in the backdrop of chief minister N Biren reasoning that the centrally-aided project is to check infiltration, drugs smuggling, and to prevent other cross-border illegal activities, the ITLF must have perceived that the objective is part of the government's move to check logistics and resource support to the Kuki militants from across the border, regardless of the fact that the Ministry of Home Affairs is overseeing execution of the fencing project along the India-Myanmar border through the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).

In a statement made available to the national media, the ITLF on Sunday urged the Centre not to fence the India-Myanmar border and not to scrap the FMR, on the ground that if the fencing is done and the FMR scrapped then it would not be possible in maintaining social, cultural, and economic ties between tribal communities who live on both sides of the border.

The ITLF statement referred to a January 24 letter addressed to Union home minister Amit Shah requesting him to reverse the decision to scrap the FMR and to stop border fencing along the Myanmar frontier.

It also advised all tribals, especially village chiefs and government employees, not to participate in any border fencing activities that would "split our people on either side of the border".

For the record, such outright rejection to fence the border and cancel the FMR, which allows citizens residing close to both sides of the border to move 16 km into each other's territory without a passport or visa, was preceded by an incident around September 2018 when Myanmarese military personnel intruded into Haolenphai village near Moreh town and caused damage to residential and commercial structures, such as sawmills.

The incident triggered widespread demands for securing the border, which technically means barricading the international boundary. Similarly, other tribal organisations proposed strengthening security in Kamjong sector of the international border in the wake of unrestrained influx of Kuki villagers from their Myanmar settlements.

As such, taking into account of the public proposals for securing the border but raising objection when the same is being planned, it is obvious that there is more than meets the eye for the hue and cry against the fencing project and annulling the FMR.