The Free Movement Regime (FMR), which allows persons living on either side of the India-Myanmar border to go 16 kilometers into each other’s territory without a visa, may expire soon.
According to reports, the Centre has decided to begin bidding for an advanced smart fencing system for the whole India-Myanmar border. “We are going to end the FMR along the Indo-Myanmar border soon. We are going to put fencing along the entire border. The fencing will be completed in the next four and a half years. Anyone coming through will have to get a visa,” the government sources were quoted as saying.
“The idea is to not only to stop the misuse of the FMR, which is used by insurgent groups to carry out attacks on the Indian side and flee towards Myanmar, but also put a brake on the influx of illegal immigrants, drugs and gold smuggling,” they added.
Earlier, in September 2023, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh requested the Centre to permanently close the FMR along the Indo-Myanmar border in order to reduce “illegal immigration.” He also stated that the state was working on establishing a National Register of Citizens and fortifying the border with Myanmar. Manipur and Myanmar share a 390-kilometer porous border, with only approximately 10 kilometers of it fenced.
The boundary between India and Myanmar stretches for 1,643 km across Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh. The FMR is a bilateral agreement that permits tribes living along the border to travel up to 16 km inside the other country without a visa. Under the FMR, any member of the hill tribes, who is either an Indian or a Myanmar citizen, and a resident of any location within 16 kilometers on either side of the border, can cross across with a border pass valid for one year. The persons traveling is also permitted to stay beyond the border for two weeks.
The FMR was implemented as part of the Narendra Modi government’s Act East policy in 2018, at a time when diplomatic relations between India and Myanmar were improving. The FMR was supposed to come into effect in 2017, but it was postponed due to the Rohingya refugee crisis that began that August.
Notably, several illegal immigrants have entered India since the ethnic conflict between the Meitei and Kuki communities in Manipur that took place in May last year. It was reported that in July 2023, armed Kuki militants comprising of the Kuki National Army (KNA) and People’s Defence Force (PDF) of Mynamar and security personnel arrived in India paving way for a major clash between Kukis and Meiteis in the border town of Moreh in Manipur’s Tengnoupal district.
The Manipur authorities had then launched an investigation in the case to learn that a significant number of attackers had arrived from Myanmar. Later, more than 700 illegal immigrants had reportedly entered from Myanmar to the Indian side and orders had been given to deport them.
“718 fresh illegal migrants from Myanmar have come. The Manipur government has asked the Assam Rifles to deport them. This is a separate development,” Wasbir Hussain, a senior journalist had informed then.
“On the other side of Moreh is the Burmese town of Tamu which is connected by an India-Myanmar friendship bridge where Indians and Myanmar citizens can come and go within a distance of about 10 to 20 kilometers. There are no real documents necessary. Just an entry at the gate. You are allowed to go inside Tamu and come back. This is the situation in the border town,” he had added.
The ethnic conflict between the Meitei and Kuki communities in the northeastern state of Manipur resulted in several fatalities and thousands of displaced residents. The first clashes occurred on 3rd May 2023 following a “Tribal Solidarity March” organised by the All Tribal Students Union of Manipur (ATSUM) in the hill areas to oppose the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. Tensions had increased in April as a result of a Manipur High Court decision ordering the state administration to send a recommendation for Scheduled Tribe status for Meiteis.