Ghost of partition past lingers as Delhi mulls fencing British era India-Myanmar border

Only 10 kms of the 1,643 kms border between India and Myanmar remain fenced, allowing resident of either side to cross the border and travel up to 16 km inside the other country without a visa and stay up to two weeks. This was called the Free Movement Regime (FMR). 

The Indian Government has now planned to stop the FMR, and fence the complete border with Myanmar. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government plans to fence the border along Myanmar to “stop the influx of illegal immigrants, drugs and gold smuggling”.

However, a British era boundary drawing nations threatens the trauma of partition, that India suffered in 1947.  Will the fencing of the borderland inflict partition trauma, it did for generations in the colonial era partition of Bengal and Punjab?

Manipur 

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh had in September 2023 said that he had appealed to the Centre to scrap the Free Movement Regime (FMR) along the Indo-Myanmar border. The Manipur CM cited influx of “illegal immigrants” and cross-border drug trafficking. 

The residents in the Meitei dominated regions of Manipur have also demanded the fencing along Myanmar border and a National Register of Citizens (NRC). 

Mizoram

Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma has been vocal against fencing the border. Soon after it was reported that the Centre plans to scrap the FMR, he met PM Modi and Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar in Delhi, after which he told the media that the Mizos consider the Indo-Myanmar border “an imposed boundary” and that fencing it is “unacceptable” to the Mizo people.

Nagaland

The Nagaland government has refrained from commenting on the matter so far. However, Deputy CM Y Patton met Lalduhoma in Aizawl, following which the Mizoram government stated that Patton said fencing the border would be “unacceptable for Nagas” given the significant Naga population in Myanmar.

Politics of nation and boundaries

To the people residing in the border areas between India and Myanmar, the boundary is considered “imposed”. Indigenous communities living on either side of the border share ethnic bonds from the fact that they belong to the same community. 

Locals have believed that the international boundary was drawn without the consent of the residents. They have further dissented that the border between India and Myanmar that cuts through mountains, divides people of the same ethnicity and culture into two different nations.

PM Modi govt’s stance on India-Myanmar border

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government had in 2018 agreed to Land Border Crossing Agreement between India and Myanmar vide the Act East Policy. 

The PM Modi-led government had vowed to “safeguard the traditional rights of the largely tribal communities residing along the border, which are accustomed to free movement across the land border.”

However, this same government has now superseded the decision made six years ago. The Modi government along with the N Biren Singh’s Manipur government has cited security concerns for the decision of fencing the borderland. 

Ethnic communities in India-Myanmar borderland

Mizos and Chins of Myanmar have sustained the spotlight in the recent past. Further there is a sizeable Naga population in Myanmar, largely in the Naga Self-Administered Zone in Myanmar’s Sagaing region. 

One of the most well-known symbols of idiosyncrasy of the international border is the Longwa village in Nagaland’s Mon district, which is spread across both countries and is headed by an Angh or chief whose house straddles the border, reports Indian Express. 

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Published: 21 Jan 2024, 03:16 PM IST