Contestations not only at BP 81 : MPCC
Cong inspects border fence, decries police action
Source: The Sangai Express

Moreh/Imphal, June 24 2022: A large team of Congress party including members of the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) made a field inspection of the disputed BP 81 at Kwatha Khunou and the controversial border fencing work undertaken by BRTF on Thursday.

Speaking to media persons, MPCC vice-president Hareswar Goswami who led the team said that the Surveyor General of India himself came to the international border in 2018 and inspected the disputed site of BP 81 at Kwatha Khunou.

During the Surveyor General of India's spot inspection, the Congress party raised strong objection against the faulty alignment of the boundary line and misplacement of the BP 81 .

Admitting that the BP 81 was misplaced, the Surveyor General of India assured that the international boundary would be re-surveyed, Hareswar Goswami said.

Installation of these boundary pillars means loss of large tracts of Manipur's territory.

Cong inspects border fence, decries police action

Manipur has lost/will lose large tracts of its territory between BPs 64 and 69 in Tuivai-Molcham area, BPs 69 and 76 near Moreh Land Custom Check-Post, around BP 78 near Tamil temple and from BPs 88 to 95 in Choro Khunou area, the MPCC vice-president said.

The villagers had earlier pointed out that the BP Nos 88 to 95 were re-positioned by the Myanmar authority.

Moreover, Manipur has lost a sizeable area at Kwatha Khunou between BPs 81 and 83, he said.

The Manipur section of Indo-Myanmar boundary was surveyed three times earlier in 1834, 1881-82 and 1896 .

However, no proper milestones or border stones were installed.

Later, border pillars or stones were erected at haphazard manner without identifying the correct spots and this led to loss of vast tracts of Manipur's territory, he continued.

According to the survey done in 1896, the boundary line should run 120 yards or 109 metres towards Manipur from the Namjetlok-Namjupha intersection.

However, when Congress party inspected the boundary line some years back, border pillars/stones were found erected by moving more than 300 metres towards Manipur, and this is a very clear indication large tracts of Manipur's territory have been taken over by Myanmar, Hareswar Goswami said.

The Congress party apprised the matter to the Government of India through memoranda and protest demonstrations.

Representations on these faulty, one-sided demarcation were submitted to the Surveyor General of India repeatedly but not a single response was received, the MPCC vice-president said.

Standing in front of BP 81 at Kwatha Khunou, the Congress team also shouted slogans like "We will not allow any compromise on Manipur's territorial integrity", "We will not tolerate any challenge to the integrity of Manipur", "We won't allow illegitimate border fencing" etc.

Speaking to media persons at Congress Bhavan here this afternoon, Hareswar Goswami condemned the police crackdown on UCM's protest against construction of border fence in disputed areas in front of Kangla Fort on June 22 in which UCM volunteer Soibam Anil and Pandam reporter Mangsatabam Linda sustained injuries.

There are many disputed areas along the Manipur sector of Indo-Myanmar border and they stretch over 35 Kms.

This is also known to the Government of India.

But the letter sent by the Special Secretary (Home) to the Union Home Secretary portrays the disputed areas as restricted to just 2/3 Kms between BP 80 and BP 81, the MPCC vice-president said.

According to the same letter, there is no objection to the border fencing work in other areas.

But the boundary line is being contested at many other areas too including Tuivai-Molcham area (BP 64 to BP 68), Haollenphai area (BP 75 to BP 73), Moreh area (BP 75 to BP 79), Kwatha area (BP 80 to BP 83) and Choro Khunou area (BP 88 to BP 95), Hareswar said.

It is on record that Burmese soldiers removed a number of boundary pillars in 1972.Removal of boundary pillars by Burmese soldiers was also mentioned in a report furnished by the IG (Intelligence) .

Moreover, Regional Integration, Vol 13 edited by RK Ranjan (now Union Minister of State for External Affairs) and published in September 1982 pointed out that Manipur had lost large tracts of territory, Hareswar pointed out.

BJP supporters may say that the boundary issue should be dealt at the level of India and Myanmar.

Nonetheless, the State Government ought to carry out a very thorough enquiry and send a report to the Government of India before the issue is settled between India and Myanmar, he asserted.

Strangely, the border fencing work was resumed after BJP came to power in the State even though the same work was suspended by the Congress Government in 2015 following strong protest from the people, Hareswar continued.

The State Government wrote to the Government of India on April 3, 2017 pointing out that Myanmar had been encroaching into the territory of India (Manipur), he said.

He then asked the State Government if they have received any reply to the particular letter.