Centre decides to fence entire border with Myanmar
Source: Chronicle News Service

New Delhi/Imphal, February 06 2024: India has decided to fence the entire 1,643-km-long India-Myanmar border, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced on Tuesday.

The move could virtually put an end to the Free Movement Regime (FMR) prevalent along the porous border.

The FMR allows people residing close to the India-Myanmar border to venture 16 km into each other's territory without any document.

The 1,643-km-long India-Myanmar border, which passes through Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, currently has FMR.

It was introduced in 2018 as part of India s Act East policy.

Fencing along the border has been a persistent demand of the Imphal Valley-based Meetei groups which have been alleging that tribal militants often enter into India through the porous border.

The Meetei groups also allege that narcotics are being smuggled into India taking advantage of the unfenced international border.

In a post on X, Shah said the Narendra Modi government is committed to building impenetrable borders.

"It has decided to construct a fence along the entire 1643-kilometre-long Indo-Myanmar border.

To facilitate better surveillance, a patrol track along the border will also be paved," he said.

The home minister said a 10-km stretch of the border in Moreh in Manipur has already been fenced.

Furthermore, two pilot projects of fencing through a hybrid surveillance system are under execution.

"They will fence a stretch of 1 km each in Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.

Additionally, fence works covering approximately 20 km in Manipur have also been approved, and the work will start soon," he said.

Manipur shares around 390 km of border with Myanmar, but only about 10 km has been fenced so far.

In July last year, the state government shared data that around 700 illegal immigrants entered the state.

Besides, Mizoram has seen an influx of anti-Junta rebels in thousands since the military coup in Myanmar on February 1, 2021.According to government estimates, several thousand refugees are living in different parts of Mizoram since the coup.

Mizoram shares a 510-km-long border with Myanmar.

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh had also said that several persons from Myanmar tried to enter into his state but returned on seeing the presence of a large number of security personnel.

Apart from Manipur and Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh shares a 520-km border with Myanmar and Nagaland shares a 215-km border with the country.

On February 3, after meeting Shah, the Manipur chief minister said the Centre is set to take "some important decisions" in the interests of the people of the state.

Biren Singh had also held a meeting with senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs at the North Block and had "a productive discussion on the strategic measures undertaken for fostering peace in Manipur".

As no further details were shared about the meeting, journalists waited for the chief minister at Imphal International Airport upon his return to Imphal on Sunday.

However, the CM along with MLA Th Sa-tyabrata and education minister Th Basanta Kumar left the airport without saying anything to the journalists.

Notably, Biren had been pitching for stringent border control measures, and in September last year urge the Centre to scrap the Free Movement Regime (FMR) along the Indo-Myanmar border to tackle illegal immigration.

He also said that the state government is working towards ensuring implementation of National Register of Citizens (NRC) and a comprehensive border fencing.

Notable, in January, The Indian Express had reported that the Centre has decided to start rendering for an advanced smart fencing system for the entire India-Myanmar border.

"We are going to end the Free Movement Regime (FMR) along the Indo-Myanmar border soon.

We are going to put fencing along the entire border.

The fencing will be completed in the next four-and-half years.

Anyone coming through will have to get a visa," the Indian Express report quoted a source as saying.

Manipur shares around 390 km of porous border with Myanmar, of which only about 10 km is fenced.

FMR is a mutually agreed arrangement between the two neighbouring countries that allows tribes living along the border to travel up to 16 km inside each other's country without a visa and can stay up to two weeks.

Naga, Kuki and Meetei communities live on both sides of the international border of India and Myanmar.

The government has also launched the 'Vibrant Village' programme for the border villages of India.

An official said that earlier, villages situated in the border areas were considered the last villages of the country, but that perception has changed.

Now, as per the policy of Government of India, these villages are not the last villages but the first villages near the borders.

Prime Minister Modi has already said that when the sun rises in the east, its first ray touches a border village and when the sun sets, the village on this side derives benefit of its last ray.

The latest move is considered significant given the vulnerability and threats of the 1,643 km unfenced India-Myanmar border spanning Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram.

In fact, apart from a 10-km stretch in Manipur, the India-Myanmar border through difficult terrains like hills and forests is unfenced.

The Indian security forces face a tough time dealing with the challenges resulting from the extremist groups carrying out hit-and-run operations from their hidden bases in the Chin and Sagaing regions of Myanmar.

The inward trafficking of drugs and outward trafficking of wildlife body parts across the borders with Myanmar has also been one of the major concerns for India.

The trigger for the decision to put up fencing is also the conflict that broke out between the Meetei and the Kuki-Zo communities in Manipur on May 3, 2023.Also, over the past decade, the Manipur government has been expressing concern over the "influx" of Myanmar nationals.

Amid the violence in Manipur, a few hundred Myanmar nationals were found taking refuge in the state to escape a civil war back home.

In September 2023, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh had blamed the ethnic violence on the free movement of Myanmar nationals into India and urged the Ministry of Home Affairs to end the Free Movement Regime (FMR), which had been suspended on April 1, 2020 during the Covid-19 lockdown.

The suspension was extended after the military coup in Myanmar in February 2021.Manipur has been witnessing sporadic violence since May 3, 2023 claiming more than 200 people.

While a section of Kukis has demanded a separate administration or separation from the Manipur government, the Meetei groups are dead against it and warned legislators against any such design and asked them to foil such attempts.

Meeteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and are confined in the Imphal Valley, while tribals, which include Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside both in the hill districts and the plains.

The rest belong to other communities.

Amit Shah paid a four-day visit to the state as part of his efforts to calm down the warring communities.

However, intermittent violence continued.

(With inputs from Agencies) .

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