Manipur: Meiteis welcome Myanmar border fencing; Naga, Kukis oppose

In a post on X, Shah on Tuesday said the Narendra Modi government is committed to building impenetrable borders.

“It has decided to construct a fence along the entire 1643-kilometre-long Indo-Myanmar border. To facilitate better surveillance, a patrol track along the border will also be paved,” he said.

The move could virtually put an end to the Free Movement Regime (FMR) prevalent along the porous border. The FMR allows people residing close to the India-Myanmar border to venture 16 km into each other’s territory without any document.

Manipur shares at least 398 km of border with Myanmar of which 10 km have been fenced.

Coordinating Committee (COCOMI), a joint body of valley-based civil bodies, welcomed the decision to fence the India-Myanmar border but cautioned that no land areas of the state should be compromised during the process.

M Dhananjoy, Assistant Media Coordinator of COCOMI told PTI “Had this (border fencing) been done 30-40 years back, we would not have seen the violence we are seeing today”.

“Porous borders have undoubtedly led to massive smuggling of drugs threatening the lives of the youths and influx of illegal immigrants have caused enormous demographic changes threatening the indigenous population of Meiteis and state Nagas,” Dhananjoy said.

“The border should be sealed with fencing, we welcome it but it should be exercised in such a way that no land area of the state is lost”, he said, adding that “the entire people want border fencing”.

As to objections raised by some groups that fencing will cut off their relatives, Dhananjoy said “Meiteis also have a significant population in Myanmar due to historical events. But we are not making it an issue for the greater interest of the state”.