UNC bats for FMR, opposes border fencing in Naga areas
Source: Chronicle News Service
Senapati, January 19 2024:
The United Naga Council (UNC) has appealed to the Union home.minister to maintain status quo on the Free Movement Regime (FMR) and halt construction of fencing along the Indo-Myanmar border in Naga areas.
In a memorandum submitted to Union home minister Amit Shah through the Senapati DC, UNC called for continuation with the FMR in Tusom-Somrah Sector of Indo-Myanmar border in Ukhrul district and other impacted Naga areas as well as reconsider the proposal for construction of fencing wall along the Indo-Myanmar border in Naga areas.
The memorandum signed jointly by UNC president Ng Lorho and general secretary Vareiyo Shatsang stated that the Indo-Myanmar border was delimited and demarcated by two bilateral agreements signed between India and Myanmar on March 10, 1967 by dividing many ethnic tribal communities along the artificial/ imaginary line drawn without the informed consent of the villagers and thus relegated to the status of ethnic minorities on both sides of the border.
To address their concerns and enable close interaction amongst the ethnic minorities, India and Myanmar governments established the Free Movement Regime (FMR) which had been in place since 1970s, with periodic revision, the last being in January, 2018 as part of Narendra Modi government's Act East Policy to safeguard the traditional rights of the largely tribal communities residing along the borderland.
According to the UNC memorandum, scrapping of FMR in recent times in Tusom-Somrah sector along the Indo-Myanmar border in Ukhrul district and other Naga districts stretching from north of Moreh town to Nagaland state has severed the social and cultural ties during festive seasons.
There have been incidents of emergency health issues, educational tour, seasonal livelihood activities, marriages, funerals, cultivation and economic activities.
Tangkhul, Anal, Moyon and Lamkang Nagas, who are scattered in few districts of Manipur state, have a sizeable population in Myanmar's Sagaing region sharing robust ethnic ties.
Historical border delineations influenced more by political considerations than ethnic bonding during the British colonial era resulted in the dispersion of Naga people across the international boundaries.
The Nagas are not convinced that ending FMR will serve any purpose due to the fact that there is neither a case of smuggling of arms and drugs nor influx of illegal immigrants in Naga areas on both sides, the memorandum contended.
The approved Indo-Myanmar border fencing supposedly framed to be constructed in Naga dominated areas measuring about 80 km stretch in Tengnoupal and Chandel districts in Manipur is stated to be an apparent violation of international environmental laws.
These border fences not only affect people but can also have unintended consequences for wildlife, it said.
The memorandum also pointed out that the lop-sided narrative of the Government of India and Manipur government for ending the FMR and the approved proposals for construction of fencing/wall along the border in Naga dominated areas has displeased many frontier communities.
While attempting to address the influx of illegal immigrants through the porous borders, the state and Union governments may find other mechanism to curb the menace instead of scrapping FMR and construction of wall and fencing, it stated.