UNC petitions Guv on border fencing, FMR, tripartite talks
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, February 22 2025: United Naga Council (UNC) petitioned Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla for stoppage of ongoing construction of India - Myanmar border fencing, reinstatement of Free Movement Regime (FMR) and intervention on tripartite talks for rollback of new districts' creation.

A memorandum to this effect was submitted to Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla by a delegation from the UNC during his visit to Senapati district on Saturday.

In the memorandum, the UNC said Naga villagers living across the border had been closely sharing all ties in the terms of social, economical, cultural and land since time immemorial.

A grim injustice was rendered to the Naga people by arbitrarily dividing the Nagas by the then India's Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the then Burma (Now Myanmar) Prime Minister UN Nou with the formation of Indo-Myanmar Border in the 1950s .

Drawing of an imposed and imaginary international boundary in the middle of Naga homeland without the informed consent of the locals was the crudest treatment meted out to Nagas, the UNC said in the memorandum.

The memorandum further said that abrupt abrogation of FMR and construction of physical border fencing along the imaginary Indo-Myanmar border has adversely impacted and disrupted natural flow of community and familial interdependent relationship.

There are instances of families holding land on both sides of the border.

Accordingly, the move of the government to scrap FMR and construction of border fencing on the pretext of checking drugs menace and illegal Immigrants is a total misconception and politically illogical as it has no historical bearing and a short sighted approach in nature that would cause a huge ramification.

The collateral damages of border fences not only affect people but can also have unintended but dire consequences for wildlife, inter-alia by curtailing migrations and other movements by fragmenting population and by causing direct mortality to large carnivores and herbivores, it further said.

According to the UNC memorandum, the lop-sided narrative of the Government of India and state government for ending the FMR and construction of Indo-Myanmar border fencing along the imaginary borders has displeased many frontier communities.

The Nagas are not convinced that the ending FMR will serve any purpose due to the fact that there is neither a case of smuggling of arms and drugs nor an influx of illegal immigrants in Naga areas on both sides.

While attempting to address the influx of illegal immigrants through the borders, state and Union government may find other mechanisms to curb the menace by enacting and enforcing stringent laws like National Registration Citizenship (NRC) instead of scrapping FMR and construction of wall and fencing, the Naga body suggested.

Instead of symptomatic treatment over the chronic issues in the region, the Gov ernment of India must sincerely engage on the negotiating table to resolve the protracted Indo-Naga political issue logically based on Framework Agreement.

This would serve as a permanent solution to various problems and usher in peace in North-East region, the UNC said.

On the tripartite talks on the district roll back issue, the UNC said the tripartite talks involving the Government of Manipur, the Government of India and the UNC is ongoing with NE advisor AK Mishra since 2016, and urged the Governor for intervention to resolve the issue at the earliest.

The UNC further said it has been giving its best efforts to bring peace and normalcy since the outbreak of the conflict between the Meetei and Kuki-Zo but the efforts yielded not much result as the Council is not a competent authority.

Nevertheless, the UNC expressed hope that peace and normalcy would restore soon with the keen initiative of the Governor.

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