Myanmar border will be fenced, says Shah

India will scrap the free movement regime it shares with Myanmar and build a fence on the border with the neighbouring country, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Saturday as he also stressed that the country will be rid of Maoist extremism within three years.

- Utpal Parashar

“The government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to fence the entire India-Myanmar border like it has been done along the border with Bangladesh,” Shah said at the graduation parade of 2,551 commandos of Assam Police at Guwahati, one of the five events in which he participated on Saturday. He was on a three-day tour of Meghalaya and Assam, and attended the plenary session of North Eastern Council in Shillong on Friday.

India and Myanmar share a 1,643km border in four states of the northeast — Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. The free movement regime allows people living in border areas to travel up to 16km inside the other country without a visa.

“Our government is re-examining the free movement regime provision that exists with Myanmar and now this facility, which allows free movement, will be stopped,” said Shah.