The government will stop free movement of people at the Myanmar border, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Saturday. His remarks come amid reports of high number of Myanmar soldiers and citizens fleeing into India to escape ethnic clashes.
“The India-Myanmar border will be protected like the Bangladesh border… The Government of India will stop the free movement with Myanmar,” Shah said addressing the passing out parade of the first batch of the five newly-constituted Assam Police Commando battalions.
Reports had earlier claimed that the government was planning to end the Free Movement Regime (FMR), which allows people residing close to the India-Myanmar border to venture 16 km into each other’s territory without visa.
India and Myanmar share a 1,643-km-long border which passes through Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. Once the FMR is scrapped, people living on border regions will require a visa to enter the other country.
In the last three months, nearly 600 Myanmar soldiers have crossed into India and taken refuge in Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district after their camps were captured by the Arakan Army militants, NDTV reported.
Mizoram which shares a 510-km-long porous border with Myanmar has seen an influx of anti-Junta rebels in thousands since the military coup in Myanmar on February 1, 2021. According to government estimates, several thousand refugees are living in different parts of Mizoram since the coup.
Manipur government has been maintaining that insurgents from Myanmar use the free movement regime to further their activities. Manipur shares a 398-km border with Myanmar.
Arunachal Pradesh shares a 520-km border with Myanmar while Nagaland shares a 215-km border with the country.
