New Delhi: Five Manipur-bsed Kuki-Zo organisations have issued a joint statement opposing the Union government’s decision to scrap the free movement regime (FMR) between India and Myanmar.
The organisations, opposing the fencing of the India-Myanmar border, have asked people “to refuse to participate in any FMR-related activity”, the Telegraph reported.
FMR permits individuals residing on either side of the international border with Myanmar to enter each other’s territories without a visa for distances up to 16 kms.
On February 8, Union home minister Amit Shah had announced the decision to abolish the FMR agreement with Myanmar to strengthen internal security and preserve the demographic structure of the northeastern states. This announcement came two days after he declared plans to fence the porous India-Myanmar border.
“We are opposed to any move to separate or disunite us. In this regard, we are resolute in our opposition to the removal of the Free Movement Regime (FMR) along the Indo-Myanmar border, as this will result in the forced separation of blood brothers on both sides of the border,” the joint statement, released days ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha session on June 24, said.
“The people of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Mizoram are also against border fencing and the removal of FMR. We urge everyone — officials, contractors, and others — to refuse to participate in any FMR-related activity,” it said, adding that the Union government needs “to listen and act” to end the Manipur conflict that broke out on May 3 last year.
Cautioning that the conflict in Manipur will not abate without a political solution that acknowledges minority communities’ needs and aspirations, the organisations urged the government to expedite their demand for a Union Territory with a legislature under Article 239A.
The statement – released by the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF), Committee on Tribal Unity (COTU), Indigenous Tribes Advocacy Committee (ITAC), Kuki Inpi Chandel (KIC) and Kuki Inpi Tengnoupal (KIT) – also called the Manipur government’s plan to conduct autonomous district council (ADC) elections “an attempt to create division among us by pitting us against each other”.
According to the Telegraph, the organisations will hold a mass rally on June 24 in Churachandpur, Pherzawl, Kangpokpi and Tengnoupal districts. Protest rallies were also held in Manipur’s Tengnoupal district and in Mizoram on May 16, the report said.
Five districts in Manipur—Churachandpur, Chandel, Kamjong, Tengnoupal, and Ukhrul—share a 398 km border with Myanmar. Additionally, Arunachal Pradesh (520 km), Nagaland (215 km), and Mizoram (510 km) share borders with Myanmar. The Assam Rifles guard the international border with Myanmar.
Opposition from Mizoram and Nagaland
The BJP-led Manipur government and civil society organisations in the Meitei-majority valley districts welcomed the decisions announced by Shah in February, attributing the ongoing ethnic conflict in the state to the influx of narco-terrorists from across the border.
However, Kuki-Zo organisations in Manipur, as well as the governments of Mizoram and Nagaland, had opposed these decisions. The Mizoram and Nagaland Assemblies passed resolutions on February 28 and March 1, respectively, opposing the Union government’s decisions on FMR and border fencing. The Nagaland Assembly’s resolution specifically urged the Centre to reconsider its decisions.
In a representation to Amit Shah in February, Rajya Sabha MP K. Vanlalvena from Mizoram argued that the international border along Mizoram had been “arbitrarily demarcated” by the British “without proper ground survey and with no regard to ground reality.” As a result, “our people were forcibly settled” in three countries—India, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), and Burma (now Myanmar).
