Nagaland tribal body opposes move to fence India-Myanmar border
The Tenyimi Union Nagaland argued that the fence will hurt livelihoods, isolate communities and restrict access to education and healthcare.
The Tenyimi Union Nagaland, representing five major tribal communities in the state, has opposed the Union government’s plan to fence the India-Myanmar border, warning that it would severely hurt the Naga people, their livelihoods and cultural ties, PTI reported on Thursday.
The group argues that the fence will isolate communities and restrict access to education and healthcare.
“The fence is not just a physical barrier, it is an assault on our identity, heritage and dignity,” said the group’s chief Kekhwengulo Lea in a statement.
The Tenyimi Union Nagaland urged the Union government to reconsider its decision to fence the border, emphasising the need to protect the tribal communities’ ancestral lands.
“The Free Movement Regime introduced in the 1950s allowed limited cross-border travel, but successive regulations have since curtailed this, severely affecting the Naga communities’ ability to maintain cross-border social, cultural and economic ties,” Lea was quoted as saying.
The Tenyimi Union Nagaland also called on all Naga persons, communities and organisations to unite against the plan to fence the border and protect the Naga people’s future from division, PTI reported.
In February, the Union government said that it would end India’s free movement regime pact with Myanmar and seal the border.
The free movement regime, which has been in place since the 1970s, allows visa-free movement for people living within 16 km on either side of India and Myanmar’s shared border along Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. The 1,643-km border is largely unfenced.
The eligible persons can spend a day across the border without any document, and stay up to 72 hours “with effective and valid permits issued by the designated authorities on either side”. The regime was devised keeping in mind the traditional social relations among those living along the border and to facilitate cross-border trade between the kindred communities on both sides.
The Union government’s decision to revoke the free movement regime came against the backdrop of the ethnic conflict in Manipur.
In September 2023, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh had attributed the ethnic conflict to the free movement of people from across the Myanmar border. He had also urged the Union home ministry to permanently terminate the free movement regime and complete its fencing to check the “illegal influx from Myanmar”.
In March, the Nagaland Assembly adopted a resolution urging the Union government to reconsider its decision to fence the border and suspend the free movement regime with Myanmar.
The Mizoram Assembly had also adopted a similar resolution in February.