IMPHAL, 22 Jan: An apex body of the Kuki tribes in Manipur has expressed concern over the union government’s “abrupt” decision to end free movement of people at the India-Myanmar border and fencing it completely.
The Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM) in a statement said that fencing would not address some of the “complex challenges.” It, however, did not elaborate the challenges.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah had on Saturday said that the government has decided that the India-Myanmar border, which is open, will be protected by barbed fencing.
“The entire border will have barbed fencing like what we have at the India-Bangladesh border. The Indian government is rethinking the free movement agreement with Myanmar. Now the government of India is going to stop this facility,” he had said in Assam’s Guwahati.
The statement by the KIM said that it is “profoundly dismayed by the abrupt decision to implement border fencing along the India-Myanmar border, coupled with the move for the cancellation of free movement regime (FMR). The unforeseen development has prompted a profound sense of concern within the Kuki Zo community.”
The organisation appealed to the Centre to “reassess this course of action.”
“It is crucial to recognise that the border fencing will not address the complex challenges,” the statement added.
The FMR allows people living on both sides of the border to travel 16 kms into each other’s territory without a visa. Four Indian states – Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram – share a 1,643-km border with Myanmar.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh had earlier spoken in favour of the border fencing and cancellation of FMR. (PTI)