BEYOND BORDER-FENCING

The central government’s decisions to scrap the Free Movement Regime in the border areas of India and Myanmar and to fence the entire Indo-Myanmar border may do more harm than good, argues VAISHALI BASU SHARMA

- VAISHALI BASU SHARMA

Policymaking interest in north-eastern India has increased greatly in recent years. New directions in public policy and improved connectivity are concomitant with a re-examination of experimental decisions regarding border security issues, which have, in turn, stirred up considerable debate.

Recently the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) officially announced that it would “scrap the Free Movement Regime (FMR) between India and Myanmar to ensure the internal security of the country and to maintain the demographic structure of India’s North Eastern States bordering Myanmar.”

The FMR agreement has allowed tribes living along the border on either side to travel up to 16 km inside the other country without a visa and stay up to two weeks. In addition to this, Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah said that India plans to fence the entire 1,643 km border between the northeastern states of India and Myanmar.

Both these decisions, the scrapping of the free movement regime and the fencing of the India-Myanmar border have stirred up considerable debate. Amid objection from several northeastern states, including Mizoram and Nagaland, and many other organisations, the Centre has reiterated that it is committed to fencing the entire India-Myanmar border.

In a post on ‘X’, Amit Shah said, ‘It (Government) has decided to construct a fence along the entire 1,643-kilometre Indo-Myanmar border. To facilitate better surveillance, a patrol track along the border will also be paved”. He said that the Narendra Modi government is committed to building impenetrable borders. “Of the total border length, a 10 km stretch in Moreh, Manipur, has already been fenced.