The Yimkhiung Tribal Council (YTC), apex tribal body of the Yimkhiung Naga community in Nagaland, on Saturday carried out a protest rally at its sub-headquarters in Pungro Town, voicing strong opposition to the proposed fencing along the Indo-Myanmar border and the recent scrapping of the Free Movement Regime (FMR).
According to a local source, the rally was a peaceful demonstration intended to draw the attention of the Government of India to what it described as a grave injustice against the indigenous rights of the Yimkhiung Naga people.
The protest drew hundreds of people from the community including school children holding placards with messages that read “Nagas live in India and Myanmar”, “We oppose border fencing plan”, “Restore Free Movement Regime,” and so on.
A memorandum addressed to the Union Home Minister was submitted through the Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) of Pungro, urging an immediate reversal of the decisions.
In its representation, YTC expressed deep concern over the Government of India’s announcement on 6 February 2024, which called for the scrapping of the Free Movement Regime and proposed construction of fencing along the India-Myanmar border in Nagaland. The council argued that such measures would cause irreparable harm to the traditional and cultural fabric of the Yimkhiung Nagas, whose ancestral lands and familial ties extend across the international border.
YTC said the border pillars, which currently demarcate the Indo-Myanmar boundary, were arbitrary and imaginary, forcibly dividing the Yimkhiung people and disrupting their historical territorial integrity.
“Our People on either side share ancestral land and the idea of erecting border fence tantamount to snatching away our traditional, customary and human rights. Therefore, we will never allow ourselves to be deprived of our Social, Cultural, Martial and Economic ties by this artificial line,” the YTC said.
The memorandum also demanded the complete restoration of the FMR, stating that its removal would inflict serious hardship on communities residing along the border. The council pointed out that people on the Myanmar side depend on cross-border ties for their economic, medical, educational, and social needs.
“Mention may be made that this idea of inhuman border fencing will permanently separate the already imaginary separation of siblings on both sides of the country (India and Myanmar),” it added.
Further, the YTC called for the cancellation of the newly introduced border pass system, describing it as a direct infringement on the indigenous right to free movement across ancestral lands.
The YTC urged the Union Government to reconsider its decisions on both the border fencing and the FMR, emphasising the urgent need to address the concerns and rights of the Yimkhiung Naga people.
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