Mizoram agencies urge Center to reconsider decision to fencing India-Myanmar border, suspend FRM

The Mizoram Non-Governmental Organizations Coordination Committee (NGOCC) has urged the Center to reconsider its decision to segregate the India-Myanmar border and suspend the free movement regime (FMR) with the neighboring country. In a memorandum to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday, non-governmental organizations (NGOCCs) expressed disapproval of the Centre.

“As a signatory to the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), we trust that we will take steps to safeguard the rights of indigenous peoples divided by international borders.” Article 36 of UNDRIP.

“But we are surprised by the Centre’s decision to abolish the Free Movement Regime (FMR) and its attempt to fence the border rather than sustain and develop relations between people on both sides of the border,” the memo said.

The memorandum asserts that the FMR has been an important mechanism for maintaining ethnic and cultural ties between Mizo people living on both sides of the border and that the proposed abolition of the FMR and border fencing will adversely affect the important ethnic and cultural ties between Mizo communities. The NGOCC expressed concern that such measures could undermine the harmonious coexistence and cultural exchange that is integral to the lives of the Mizo people.

The Mizo people have ethnic ties to the Chin people of Myanmar. Shah recently said the Center has decided to erect fencing on the India-Myanmar border and review the Federal Military Rules.

During a meeting with Shah in Delhi last week, Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Duhoma urged the Union Home Minister not to build the India-Myanmar border fence in Mizoram even if it is being constructed in neighboring Manipur of. The four states of Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh share a 1,643-km long international border with Myanmar.

The FMR allows people living on both sides of the border to travel within 16 kilometers of each other’s territory without a visa.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from associated news agency – PTI)