Centre regulates movement of people on Mizoram-Myanmar border

After Manipur, the movement of people living within 10 km on either side of the unfenced international border along Mizoram-Myanmar would be regulated following the directives of the Centre, officials said on Sunday. 

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) adopted the new scheme replacing the previously suspended Free Movement Regime (FMR), which earlier allowed citizens residing close to both sides of the India-Myanmar border to move 16 km into each other’s territory without a passport or visa.

A Mizoram Home Department official said that border residents of both India and Bangladesh living within 10 km on either side of the frontier now require a border pass to visit each other and the pass would be valid for a stay of up to seven days. The pass would be issued to the border residents of both countries on submission of government documents confirming that they live within the territorial limit of 10 km on either side of the border, the official said.

“State police, health officials and Assam Rifles would monitor the system. A designated officer of the Assam Rifles would issue the passes on the basis of the official documents of the border residents. The pass would be valid for one week for specific purposes such as visiting relatives, tourism, business, medical needs, sports, official duty, border trade affairs, attendance in seminars or conferences and cultural exchange programmes,” the official said.

Six Mizoram districts -- Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Hnahthial, Saitual and Serchhip -- share a 510 km-long unfenced border with Myanmar's Chin state.

Meanwhile, the MHA on December 24 in a letter to Manipur Chief Secretary Vineet Joshi said that it has introduced a border pass system for Myanmar nationals residing within 10 km of the India-Myanmar border, allowing limited entry into Manipur for specific purposes. Travellers would be required to provide proof of identity and residence, and movement would be strictly regulated within 10 km of the border, the MHA notification said adding that “movement of people from 43 designated crossing points would be granted to holders of 'Border Pass' issued by authorised representatives of Assam Rifles.”

According to the MHA notification, the Border Pass would be issued only to one adult person aged 18 years or above and persons below the age of 18 years are to be accompanied by their parents.

“The entry/exit points would be made functional by the deployment of at least two state police representatives and at least two state health representatives at each entry/exit point for smooth implementation of the system,” the MHA notification said.

Four northeastern states -- Arunachal Pradesh (520 km), Manipur (398 km), Nagaland (215 km), and Mizoram (510 km) -- share a 1,643 km unfenced border with Myanmar. The Assam Rifles have been guarding the mountainous and challenging India-Myanmar border.

Strongly opposing the MHA’s new system of cross-border movement, the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), an apex body of the majority Meitei community in Manipur, termed the new system as unfortunate and said that it would harm the interest of the state and its people.

Describing MHA notification as a threat to Manipur’s security and communal harmony, COCOMI Media Coordinator Yumkhaibam Surjit Kumar Khuman accused a section of the central force of “bias". The COCOMI urged the withdrawal of the notification, saying that such measures would compromise the state’s integrity.