Nagaland Assembly to adopt resolution against border fencing, FMR scrapping

The Nagaland Assembly will adopt a resolution on Friday against the Centre's decision to fence the India-Myanmar border and scrap the Free Movement Regime (FMR) with the neighbouring country, Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio said.

A discussion on the issue was held in the assembly on Thursday and all the 60 members came to a consensus to adopt the resolution, he said.

The discussion on FMR was initiated by NPF MLA Kuzholuzo Nienu and other members participated in it.

The MLAs expressed concern that fencing the border and suspending FMR could cause problems to Nagas and ''may even result in law and order issues'', while claiming that people's consent was not taken before deciding to build the fence.

Nienu said, ''The colonial boundaries drawn in 1826 after the Anglo-Burmese War respected the close traditional, customary, and kinship ties among cross-border tribal communities.'' ''Moreover, the FMR, which was harmonised and formalised in 2018 by the present BJP government, recognised the artificial nature of these boundaries and facilitated friendlier relations with Myanmar. The question here is why this has to be withdrawn,'' the MLA said.

Patton said that recognising the fact that tribal communities living on both sides of the border share close familial, cultural, and economic ties right from the beginning, both India and Myanmar made provisions for facilitating free movement of the tribal people across the borders.

In 1950, the Centre amended the Passport Rules whereby hill tribes, who were either a citizen of India or Burma (Myanmar) and who were ordinarily a resident in any area within 40 km on either side of India-Burma frontier were exempted from carrying passport or visa while entering into India, he said.

The Burma Passport Rules also had similar provisions for indigenous populations of all the countries bordering Burma.

This situation continued for about two decades, and then in August 1968, a permit system was introduced by the Government of India for travelling across the Myanmar border, he said.

In 2004, the Centre decided to reduce the FMR limits to 16 km on each side of the border, and finally in May 2018, India and Myanmar signed an agreement on land border crossing.

The communities living on both sides of the international border have the same language, culture, customs, traditional practices and land holding system, he said.

In some areas there are instances of people holding land on both sides of the border, he said.

On account of such close social, cultural and economic ties, there is a significant movement of people across the borders in these areas which is facilitated and permitted with certain restrictions by the existing Free Movement Regime of India and Myanmar, he said.

The boundaries that divide the Nagas are not the natural boundaries but man-made, and suspension of FMR and fencing will lead to serious disruption of the close social, tribal and economic ties of indigenous Naga people living in the border areas as well as denying access to their own ancestral lands, he said.

Patton fully supported the call to pass a resolution against sealing of the border and ending the FMR.

Supporting the debate, Deputy CM T R Zeliang said the Act East policy of the Centre under Prime Minister Narendra Modi that intends to improve trade and communications across the India-Myanmar border would be defeated if boundary fencing is given the go-ahead.

The FMR, which aims to facilitate local border trade, improve access to education and healthcare for border residents, and strengthen diplomatic ties, must neither be scrapped nor modified without taking the local populace into confidence, he said.

Zeliang called upon the Centre to develop a comprehensive and balanced approach for border management because ''any unilateral decision to impose its decision to divide the Naga people by constructing border fencing may have negative impact rather than moving forward''.

Later, Rio, appreciating the concern of the members, said the House will adopt a resolution on FMR and border fencing on Friday and the matter will be taken up with the central government.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)