Need to tread cautiously on plan to close n-e border
The raging turmoil in Manipur has drawn the Union government’s attention towards India’s Free Movement Regime with Myanmar. Some sections of the central and state governments have blamed cross-border insurgents for the ethnic violence in Manipur, which is one of the four states that share the 1,643-km India-Myanmar border.
The other three states are Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. The Kuki-Chin-Zo and Naga tribes living on the India-Myanmar border have familial, social and business ties across the border. Members of these tribes have moved freely across the largely porous border for ages.
India and Myanmar had formalised border transit by signing a Free Movement Regime, which allows a person from one country to travel up to 16 km in another country and live there for two weeks without a visa. But with the rise of insurgency on both sides and a sharp increase in smuggling of goods, drugs and arms, fencing has been erected at some places along the border. Besides smuggling, there has been a rise in insurgency on both sides. Rebel groups in Myanmar have taken control of towns in Myanmar close to the border; this has resulted in a huge influx of Myanmarese army personnel who have taken refuge in India.
The ethnic violence in Manipur that resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives has proved to be the proverbial last straw after the mounting border troubles. The Manipur chief minister has openly accused insurgents from across the border of the trouble in his state. The Kuki minority of Manipur shares ethnic ties with the Mizos of Mizoram and the Chin people of Myanmar. There are now reports that the Union government is planning to scrap the Free Movement Regime and fence the border as much as possible.
Though it is important to check the cross-border movement of insurgents, smugglers and other undesirable elements, the government will have to tread cautiously on the issue of banning free movement of ordinary law-abiding people. A comprehensive plan needs to be prepared in consultation with the other bordering states—Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh—to ensure the desired results. The newly-elected Mizoram Chief Minister, Lalduhoma, has already voiced his opposition to fencing the border and checking the free movement of people. He said the British had divided the lands of the ethnic Mizos and they cannot be separated by a fence now.