UNC blockade call over FMR, border fencing likely
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, August 08 2025: The United Naga Council (UNC) is likely to announce an indefinite economic blockade along national highways within its jurisdiction in the next few days over the abrogation of the Free Movement Regime (FMR) and the ongoing border fencing construction in what it terms "Naga ancestral homeland".

A final decision will be taken at an emergency presidential council meeting in Senapati on August 11, which UNC asked all Naga tribe hoho presidents to attend.

UNC, along with Naga Women Union (NWU), All Naga Students' Association, Manipur (ANSAM), and Naga People's Movement for Human Rights-South (NPMHR-S), had jointly served a 20-day ultimatum to the central government on July 22.The deadline ends on August 11 .

Newmai News Network quoted UNC leaders as saying that no encouraging move has come forth from the government till date.

The joint ultimatum, addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, union home minister Amit Shah, external affairs minister S Jaishankar, and defence minister Rajnath Singh, was submitted through the Governor, warning that failure to address their demands would compel them to "resume protest movement in stronger measure across all Naga hill districts".

The organisations expressed "deep concern and anguish" over abrogation of the FMR along the Indo-Myanmar border and the "accelerated" border fencing construction without consultation with affected indigenous communities.

They said that the move violates the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenbus Peoples (UNDRIP), particularly Articles 8, 26, and 36, endorsed by India.

UNC and allied bodies have staged several protests on the issue.

On April 2, 2025, Tangkhul Naga Long (TNL), under the aegis of UNC, organised a mass rally in Ukhrul and submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister through the DC.

Memorandums were also submitted to the Governor on May 2, by UNC and on February 26, 2025 by ANSAM.

Another was sent to the ministry of external affairs, the Prime Minister, and the home minister via the Governor on June 20, by ANSAM .

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