The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs in its 2022–2023 MHA annual report, plans to improve surveillance along the northeastern border of the country by erecting an advanced 1643-kilometer smart fencing system that borders Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, and Mizoram.[1] Home Minister Amit Shah announced that the government was considering about canceling a free movement arrangement to safeguard the country’s internal security and demographic structure of the northeastern states.[2] The agreement had been in place for six years and allowed border inhabitants from India and Myanmar to enter each other's countries for up to 16 kilometers without a visa.[3]
History
The governments of India and Myanmar established the Free Movement Regime in the 1970s to protect the customary rights of the predominantly tribal communities living along their borders while also promoting trade relations between the like-tribes on both sides.[4] The central government's announcement that the border between India and Myanmar will be gated, similar to the border between Bangladesh and India, prompted the United Naga Council to make its demands.[4]
Intelligence reports suggest that the situation in Manipur is exacerbated by other insurgent groups from the northeastern region, who use camps in Myanmar and cross into India.[1] The Manipur government, in light of the state's ongoing situation, has urged the central to fence the border with Myanmar and to revoke the FMR.[4]
Several rebel organizations, including Meitei, Naga, Kuki, Zomi, and Hmar, are active in Manipur. As of August 2008, the Government of India has placed 23 rebel groups—the United Peoples' Front, which comprises eight, and the Kuki National Organization, which comprises fifteen—under Suspension of Operation (SoO).[1]
Recent development
In order to protect the nation's internal security and preserve the demographic makeup of India's northeastern states that border Myanmar, Amit Shah the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has decided to terminate the Free Movement Regime (FMR) between that country and Myanmar.[5]
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has been given the task of building a 10.023 km border barrier in Moreh, Manipur.
Reaction
The centre's decision to build a smart fence of the North-Eastern border invites a mixed response from five North-Eastern states.[6]