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AIZAWL, AUGUST 29: Mizoram Home Minister K. Sapdanga, on Thursday, reaffirmed that the state government is against the Centre’s proposal to fence the Mizoram portion of the Indo-Myanmar border.
Addressing the state assembly, Sapdanga mentioned that though the international border is within the purview of the Union government, the Centre is already in dialogue with the Assam Rifles to gauge the issue. He made it clear that even as the Mizoram government, being a proprietor of the land, has expressed concern, it has provided support to the Centre’s overall border management efforts.
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The minister reminded the assembly of the resolution adopted on 28 February 2024, which had opposed the fencing proposal as well as the withdrawal of the Free Movement Regime (FMR) from Myanmar. The resolution also called for the Union government to take steps towards bringing the Zo ethnic people, who were split across national borders as a result of colonial policies, under one administrative system.
Sapdanga also pointed out that objections regarding the fencing plan were already raised by the state cabinet. Letters conveys its and the cabinet’s viewpoint were dispatched to the Lok Sabha secretariat during March 2024 and to the Union Home Ministry in April 2024.
Mizoram is bordered by 510 km of Myanmar’s Chin state, and the Mizo people have strong ethnic and cultural connections with the Chins. Over 29,000 Chin state refugees displaced by the February 2021 Myanmar military coup are currently taking refuge in Mizoram. The government of the state has also initiated biometric registration for Myanmar citizens and Bangladeshi asylum seekers from Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). In contrast, civil society groups and student organizations like the Young Mizo Association (YMA) have expressed strong opposition to the Centre’s action, cautioning that fencing the border and abolishing the FMR would disturb customary movement and disintegrate ethnic connections along the boundary.
