Regulated entry after FMR scrap, border fencing
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: January 18, 2025 -
MYANMARESE nationals allowed entry into Manipur's commercial town Moreh in Tengnoupal district with possession of border pass and registration of their biometric details underscores that the central government's decision to fence the Manipur sector of the international boundary and scrapping of the Free Movement Regime (FMR) is not at all intended to totally prohibit movement of residents on either side of the border in-spite of Naga and Kuki civil society organisations raising objections against the centre's policy to restrict movement.
Ever since the Ministry of Home Affairs announced plans to expedite construction of the boundary fencing aftermath of the Kuki-Meetei violence and suspicion over involvement of Myanmar-based Chin-Kuki militants, there has been ceaseless outcries against the project from non-Meetei civil societies on the ground that barricading the border would further divide the kindred tribes settling on either side of the boundary.
The hue and cry against the move to fence the border is on the premise that ending the FMR along the India-Myanmar border, which allowed border residents from both India and Myanmar to access into each other's territory for up to 16 km.
Notably, prior to the centre's decision to scrap the FMR, the state's BjP-led government had in the mid-2023 ordered closure of the border gates claiming that the FMR was being exploited by smugglers and insurgent groups to smuggle drugs and weapons.
Amid the condemnation choruses over scrapping of the FMR, the centre recently announced a new policy under which cross-border movement would be regulated through issuance of border pass for specific days and formal registration of the entrants from border villages of the neighbouring Country.
The new policy, however, evoked strong reactions from Meetei civil societies, fearing that any sort of relaxation would encourage entry of adverse elements.
Moreover, opinion shared by some state government officials that the new policy is a different form of FMR seems to have been substantiated by the report that Myanmarese nationals have been allowed to enter Moreh town after completing the formal process of biometric registration.
According to reports received, a joint meeting of Moreh police, Assam Rifles, and various civil society organisations (CSOs) held at the 5 Assam Rifles camp near the Indo-Myanmar Friendship Gate No 4, deliberated on the new policy for entry/exit of border residents.
Addressing the meeting attendees consisting of Moreh police station OC inspector Md Sallauddin, and representatives of Gorkha Samaj Samiti, Tamil Sangam Moreh, Manipuri Muslim Council Moreh, and Bihari Samiti Moreh, Tengnoupal SP Rahul Gupta confirmed that the Myanmarese nationals would be allowed to enter the border town with a seven-day pass after completing the biometric registration process.
He explained that the pass would grant them access to areas within 10 kilometre of the border, and urged the town's denizens to extend cooperation to the authorities by reporting the presence of Myanmarese nationals, so as to ascertain whether their entry is in compliance with the prescribed guidelines.
Though public cooperation is an absolute necessity to foil illegal influx, it is the law enforcement agencies which shall have to shoulder the responsibility of ensuring strict compliance with the entry/exit rules, so as to ensure that the border fencing project, the decision to scrap the FMR and the new policy of allowing movement of border residents from Myanmar and India up to 10 km for specific reasons such as visiting relatives, tourism, business, medical treatment and cultural exchange programmes, all serve the real purpose.
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