The United Naga Council (UNC) in Manipur has sought the reinstatement of the Free Movement Regime in the Naga areas on either side of the India-Myanmar border, and the rollback of seven districts created in 2016.
In a memorandum to Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla on May 2, the UNC said the decision of the Ministry of Home Affairs to scrap the Free Movement Regime (FMR) in February severed the deep historical, cultural, and familial ties of the Naga communities straddling the 1,643-km India-Myanmar border.
The memorandum was signed by the organisation’s president Ng. Lorho and general secretary Vareiyo Shatsang.
The Free Movement Regime allowed any member of a hill tribe who is a citizen of either India or Myanmar, and resides within 16 km of the border on either side, to cross the border on the production of a border pass, and stay up to two weeks per visit. Such a pass was valid for a year.
The UNC said the scrapping of the Free Movement Regime had affected the Tangkhul, Anal, Moyon, Lamkang, and Maring Naga communities who live along the border from the Ukhrul to Chandel districts in Manipur and the Sagaing Division in Myanmar.
‘Impacted people’
The UNC noted that the amended Passport (Entry into India) Rules of 1950 and the India-Burma Treaty in 1952 allowed the members of the hill tribes to move within 40 km of the border without visa restrictions for socio-economic reasons.
It said the boundary was delimited and demarcated in 1967 without the informed consent of the impacted people.
“Our livelihoods are significantly interwoven with cross-border interactions,” the Naga Council said.
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