After Border Fencing, Modi Government Decides To Scrap Free Movement Regime between India and Myanmar

In the backdrop of Manipur violence, the Modi government has decided to scrap the Free Movement Regime (FMR) between India and Myanmar, announced Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday. This comes a day after the Home Ministry announced its decision to erect fencing across a 1643 km Indo-Myanmar border.

“It is Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi Ji's resolve to secure our borders. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has decided that the Free Movement Regime (FMR) between India and Myanmar be scrapped to ensure the internal security of the country and to maintain the demographic structure of India’s North Eastern States bordering Myanmar. Since the Ministry of External Affairs is currently in the process of scrapping it, MHA has recommended the immediate suspension of the FMR,” Union Home Minister posted on ‘X’ on Thursday.

FMR is an agreement between India and Myanmar that allows tribes living along the border of either side to travel up to 16 km inside the other country without a visa. After violence broke out last May and lasted for several months, Manipur CM N Biren Singh had requested the Home Ministry to scrap the FMR, calling it a “biggest impediment” in the state government’s efforts to effectively have a check on illegal immigration & smuggling of contrabands and other illegal activities. India and Myanmar share a border of 1643 Km running through four states- Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. Manipur shares around 398 km of border with Myanmar, out of which only 10km is fenced. Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday, in a separate post confirmed that the central government has decided to put up a physical fence across the stretch of the border on the mountainous terrain.

FMR allowed people free access into the Indian territory but in violation of the agreement, several cases have been reported where people from Myanmar have illegally settled on the soil of India. According to Shah, during his response to the ‘no confidence debate’ in parliament in August last year, since the military coup in Myanmar on February 1, 2021, people belonging to the Kuki-Chin community had crossed over to India via the country’s western border, especially into Manipur and Mizoram, where they have sought shelter while trying to escape persecution. While the government had put in place biometric registration of the immigrants to put them on the no Adhaar and no voter ID list, accounting to state government illegal immigration had largely contributed to turmoil in Manipur, smuggling of arms and weapons further adding fuel to the violence.

Mindless violence was reported in and around the Moreh bordering town of Manipur last December with clashes between security forces and militants, once again igniting the need for stringent surveillance of the borders. FMR was implemented in 2018 as part of the Modi government’s Act East policy. The implementation was deferred in 2017 due to the Rohingya refugee crisis that year.​