January 2024 started much like December 2023 in Manipur: violently. However, what started as news attributed to one official soon became official, leaving thousands living along the India-Myanmar border in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland and, of course, Manipur, facing an uncertain future. While several, especially the BJP leaders, lauded the decision to end the FMR (Free Movement Regime), the news was met with dismay in Naga and Mizo territories. The end of what was once seen as a feather in India’s diplomacy has been met with scepticism among many, including some Meitei intellectuals, who believe this announcement might turn into all pomp and no show. However, several others are worried at the high human costs of this decision.
A tale of two Chief Ministers
Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma met the Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on February 10. Among other things, they discussed the FMR, where the Mizoram Chief Minister made an appeal saying that even if the Indo-Myanmar border is fenced in Manipur, the same should not be done in Mizoram. In an official government statement, the Mizoram government expressed that they received a positive and hopeful response from the Union Home Minister.
Lalduhoma’s requests came days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced on Twitter that the Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to scrap the FMR between India and Myanmar.
The same day, the Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh posted on his social media account thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for “securing the borders,” stressing that fencing the border is “crucial for our internal security and the demographic integrity of our North Eastern States.”
He further mentioned that it is a historic decision in curbing illegal immigration and strengthening internal security.
The FMR has provided Mizos bound by ethnicity with an opportunity to preserve their traditions and maintain relationships. However, the ongoing ethnic clashes in Manipur have significantly heightened pressure on the Ministry of Home Affairs to consider the implementation of border fencing.
A scholar from the Meitei community, who wished to remain anonymous, linked the scrapping of the FMR with the Meitei radical outfit Arambai Tenggol. “The Arambai Tenggol had given the central government 15 days to take action and Amit Shah shared the tweet about scrapping the FMR exactly on the fifteenth day. So it is just something the central government is doing for show, it is highly doubtful the border will be fenced as they say. Also, it has to be a bilateral agreement between India and Myanmar, so India cannot just do it on its terms,” he told EastMojo.
It has been nine months since ethnic clashes struck Manipur. Hundreds of lives have been lost and thousands have been displaced. Fingers have pointed towards the Chief Minister of Manipur who has resorted to many claims, one being pointing towards an alleged Kuki refugee influx from Myanmar who have been the main cause of problems arising in the state. Pressure is also on the Central government who have been constantly rebuked for failing to end the violence. The pressure is especially on the Ministry of Home Affairs which just recently arrested what they claimed was the key suspect of arms smuggling in Mizoram even though the police officials in the state said the alleged suspect was one of their own.
The plans to scrap the FMR have created fear among the refugee community in Mizoram. Lalrintluanga*, a refugee living along the border, told EastMojo: “Our lives are in peril, our country is in a state of war, and the YMA, along with the church and the entirety of Mizoram, is sheltering us. If strict enforcement of border fencing is imposed, the lives of refugees like us will be at great risk. We are not recognized as citizens according to Indian law, making it difficult for us to stay here or return. We will have nowhere to go.”
Living around two kilometres from Tahan, Lalrintluanga* had escaped to Mizoram with his wife and three children on June 9, 2022, “The junta had started entering our village and a man from our village stepped on a bomb. With all these things happening, we started fearing for our lives so we had to flee here,” he told EastMojo.
Lalrintluanga* said the decision to scrap the FMR is an impact of the ethnic conflict in Manipur and also of the rising popularity of the people’s defence armies in Myanmar. “With the people’s army winning more ground, this could be India’s attempt to help the government of Myanmar,” he said.
An expert on the Indo-Myanmar border, CV Lalmalsawmi, writer and political analyst from Mizoram told Eastmojo it would be a ‘strategic blunder’ for India to scrap the FMR, she said, “This unique arrangement is the last strand of hope to continue establishing direct people to people connection that New Delhi has been striving for in a region that has remained isolated and detached for the most of the post-independence period. Also, India’s covert backing of the military regime has proven to be shortsighted given the rapidly changing political landscape in Myanmar where anti-coup resistance forces are gaining ground and restoration of democracy is on the horizon.”
She shared how crossing the border is an act of survival for many people on the border saying, “To many border-landers, suspending FMR means bringing their livelihoods to a halt as border crossing is an everyday act of survival and a sheer necessity and no wonder some common locals even considered it a “birthright” which was snatched away from them during the British ‘partition’ of India and Myanmar in 1937. It is unfortunate that the centre only listens to one set of narratives that over exaggerate and laser-focused on the misuse of FMR while ignoring the positive role it plays in facilitating good relations across the border, as the Mizoram-Myanmar border is a testament to it.”
Lalmalsawmi said cross-border smuggling activities have always existed and it is up to the central and state governments to strengthen and effectively coordinate border security and control taking into account nuanced perspectives and aspirations on the ground, “Four Indian states border Myanmar and one state shouldn’t have the monopoly over the discourse on border fencing or any bordering process without due consultations with all stakeholders. Regardless of what Biren Singh’s govt is pushing, the conflict in Manipur can be settled within the state, and between the warring communities instead of making it about Myanmar or refugees. This is the shameful diversion of the real issue at home: the Meitei ST demand , the dispossession of tribals and the three tussles over land.”
Nagaland says NO FMR
Another state that has strongly opposed fencing of the border is Nagaland. On February 9, the Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) appealed to the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, expressing grave concerns over the “looming “serious threat” posed by the “Indian occupational force” to fence the arbitrary India-Myanmar border and abolish the FMR.
They asserted that this plan shows clear evidence of the government of India’s “insincerity and insensitivity” towards the inherent Naga birth-right and the hope for the Naga people to once again live as free people.
EastMojo reached out to Ng Lorho, president of the United Naga Council to share his perspective. He spoke on the history of the border, how the Indo-Myanmar borders were delimited and demarcated by two bilateral agreements between India and Myanmar on 10 March 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.”
He underlined the importance of the FMR to enable close interaction amongst the ethnic minorities to safeguard the traditional rights of the largely tribal communities residing along the borders, keeping in mind the traditional social relations besides facilitating trade relations between the kindred tribes on both sides.
Lorho explained the impact of scrapping the FMR in the Ukhrul district saying, “Scrapping of FMR in recent times in Tusom-Somrah sectors along the Indo-Myanmar border in Ukhrul district (Naga ancestral domains) and other Naga districts stretching from north of Moreh town to Nagaland state has severed social and cultural ties during the festive seasons. There have been incidents of emergency health issues, educational tours, seasonal livelihood activities, marriages, funerals, cultivation and economic activities.”
The Tangkhul Naga, Anal Naga, Moyon Naga, and Lamkang Naga communities, dispersed in various districts of Manipur state, have a significant Naga population in Myanmar’s Sagaing region with strong ethnic connections.
Yet, historical border demarcations, shaped more by political considerations than ethnic affiliations during the British colonial era, led to the scattering of the Naga people across international boundaries, “The Nagas are not convinced that ending the FMR will serve any purpose because there is neither a case of smuggling of arms and drugs nor an influx of illegal immigrants in Naga areas on both sides,” Lorho said.
Speaking on the impact of the FMR on the environment, he 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, Manipur is an apparent violation of international environmental laws such as the convention on migratory species which requires migratory routes to be protected. Fences walls and other barriers are proliferating along international borders on a global scale. These border fences not only affect people but can also have unintended but important consequences for wildlife, inter- alia by curtailing migrations and other movements by fragmenting populations and by causing direct mortality to large carnivores and herbivores.”
A Naga women leader, speaking anonymously, emphasised that the Manipur boundary, between two or more countries, involves international affairs. In recent years, a population exodus has occurred, possibly due to the political crisis in Myanmar. This population movement extends beyond the borders of Myanmar, placing significant strain on neighbouring countries, particularly in the northeastern states of India. With the intake capacity of the human population in most northeastern states already saturated, it is essential to consider the well-being of our brethren in neighbouring countries. The leader stressed the importance of addressing the challenges faced by areas experiencing unprecedented population growth.
A logistical nightmare
Another challenge that may arise from the fencing of the border would be to have sufficient personnel patrolling the border. An official from the army, speaking to EastMojo on the condition of anonymity, stated that assembling an adequate number of personnel for border patrols would require a minimum of five years.
The communities from Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur have various apprehensions regarding the actual enforcement of what the Union Home Minister has announced. And NGOs in these states have outlined the impact on indigenous rights. Zo Reunification Organisation, ZORO has argued that the proposed action contradicts Article 36 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007 (UNDRIP), a declaration to which India is a signatory.
On Friday, K. Vanlalvena, a Rajya Sabha Member from Mizoram representing the Mizo National Front, said he has been denied the opportunity to address the House regarding India’s decision to abolish the FMR along the Indo-Myanmar border. Despite applying four times to raise this issue during Zero Hour, he claims to have faced restrictions in voicing his concerns.
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CV Lalmalsawmi accused the policymakers in New Delhi of playing divisive politics, saying “The policymakers in New Delhi shouldn’t play into such reprehensible and divisive politics which will prove destructive for the Northeast and realise, sooner than later, that doing away with the FMR mechanism- already limiting indigenous rights of actual free movement- is diplomatically myopic and will irreversibly harm the good neighbourly sentiments shared along the international border.”
Also Read: Mizoram: 5 NGOs write to Amit Shah to reconsider abolishing FMR
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