SENAPATI, JAN 19: The United Naga Council (UNC) has urged Union home minister, Amit Shah to re-instate the Free Movement Regime (FMR) at Tusom-Somrah Sector along the Indo Myanmar border in Ukhrul district of Manipur and other impacted Naga areas vis-à-vis halting the approved proposal for construction of Indo-Myanmar border fencing/wall along the borders in Naga areas.
In a memorandum submitted to the Union home minister on Friday through the Senapati district deputy commissioner, the UNC said the Indo-Myanmar borders were delimited and demarcated by two bilateral Agreement 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 borders.
To address their concerns and enable close interaction amongst these ethnic minorities, India and Myanmar Government established the Free Movement Regime which had been in place since 1970s, with periodic revision, the last being in January 2018 as part of the Narendra Modi Government’s Act East Policy to safeguard the traditional rights of the largely tribal communities residing along the borders keeping in mind the traditional social relations. It also aimed to facilitate trade relations between the kindred tribes on both sides that permit those residing along the border to travel 16 km on either side of the unfenced boundary without visa restrictions for 72 hours with valid permits issued by the designated authorities on either sides, the UNC memorandum pointed out.
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The Naga body also said the scrapping of FMR in recent times at Tusom-Somrah sectors along the Indo-Myanmar border in Ukhrul district (Naga ancestral domains) and other Naga districts stretching from the north of Moreh town to Nagaland state has severed social and cultural ties during this festive season. There have been incidents of emergency health issues, educational tour, seasonal livelihood activities, marriages, funerals, cultivation and economic activities, it added.
The UNC further said the Tangkhul Naga, Anal Naga, Moyon Naga and Lamkang Naga who are scattered in few districts of Manipur state have a sizeable Naga population in Myanmar’s Sagaing region.
“However, 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 Naga body stated.
The UNC then said Nagas are not convinced that ending Free Movement Regime 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 of the UNC to the Union home minister also said 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 is an apparent violation of international environmental laws such as convention on migratory species, which requires migratory routes to be protected. These border fences not only affect people, but can also have unintended but important consequences for wild life, inter alia by curtailing migrations and other movements by fragmenting populations and by causing direct mortality to large carnivores and herbivores, the UNC further said.
According to the UNC, the “lop-sided narrative” of the Union government and the Manipur government for ending the FMR and the approved proposals for construction of Indo-Myanmar border 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, state and union Government many find other mechanism to curb the menace instead of scrapping FMR and construction of wall and fencing, the UNC stated. (NNN)
