Bridging with fences!

The Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, has asserted that his ministry will erect a border fence along the Myanmar border on the lines of the Indo-Bangladesh border in the wake of the continuing ethnic strife in Manipur.

Taking to X, he tweeted, “The Modi government is committed to building impenetrable borders. It has decided to construct a fence along the entire 1,643-kilometer-long Indo-Myanmar border. To facilitate better surveillance, a patrol track along the border will also be paved. Out of the total border length, a 10 km stretch in Moreh, Manipur, has already been fenced. Furthermore, two pilot projects of fencing through a Hybrid Surveillance System (HSS) are under execution. They will fence a stretch of 1 km each in Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. Additionally, fence works covering approximately 20 km in Manipur have also been approved, and the work will start soon.”

“It is Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji’s resolve to secure our borders. MHA has decided that the 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,” the Home Minister posted again on X.

Illegal infiltration, drug smuggling, extremism, insurgency, and the influx of refugees from Junta-ruled Myanmar are the prominent reasons for MHA’s decision to seal the borders and suspend the Free Movement Regime (FMR).

India and Myanmar share a 1643-km border that crosses Manipur (398 km), Mizoram (510 km), Nagaland (215 km), and Arunachal Pradesh (520 km).

The news has caused unease among the ethnicities inhabiting the border areas in Manipur and the neighbouring Mizoram and Nagaland. Ethnicities like the Kuki Chin, Mizo Chin, and Nagas have transnational bonds through shared culture, practices, heritage, history, age-old relationships, and unhindered movement for trade and commerce. The bond is so strong that some even harbour the dream of a possible reunification in the future. The ramifications of the decision to fence the Indo-Myanmar border indeed go beyond the security landscape.

Voicing the popular sentiment, the legislative assemblies of Nagaland and Mizoram have passed resolutions against the Centre’s proposed fencing project, to be executed over the next five years. These states find that border fencing will alienate families and disrupt regular ties, relations, and livelihood. It will divide the land and people once and for all. They also believe that the artificial boundaries were drawn arbitrarily without accounting for the social and cultural ties of the ethnicities.

Historically, the erstwhile Burma occupied much of India’s northeastern region until the Treaty of Yandaboo in 1826, delineating the current India-Myanmar border. This treaty was signed between the British General Sir Archibald Campbell and the Governor of Legaing Maha Min Hla Kyaw Htin on behalf of the Burmese, ending the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824-1826) by mutually agreeing to the new boundary between India and Burma. However, the concerns of the now border-separated communities of Nagas and Kuki-Chin-Mizos straddling these areas remained unrepresented in the discussions leading to the treaty.

Realising the hardships of the tribes living on the India- Myanmar border, the MHA in 1950 exempted a resident belonging to the “hill tribes, who is either a citizen of India or the Union of Burma and who is ordinarily a resident within 40 km (25 miles) on either side of the India-Burma frontier” from carrying the passport or visa while entering into India. This was done in consonance with the Burma Passport Rules of 1948, which provided the same exemption to the residents of its bordering countries.

Subsequent decades saw the emergence of insurgency in the northeastern states and abuse of the free movement regime in Myanmar to seek shelter or to establish training camps. Drugs and arms smuggling also happened, exploiting this provision. Consequently, in 2004, India decided to reduce the FMR limit to 16 km further and allow tribespeople to cross the international border only through three officially designated points — Pangsau, Moreh and Zokhawthar in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Mizoram, respectively.

In its 2011-12 annual report, the MHA observed that the FMR makes the international border extremely porous, and the hilly and inhospitable terrain provides cover to the activities of various Indian Insurgent Groups (IIGs). “The unfenced Indo-Myanmar border with FMR is thus being exploited by various IIGs,” the report said.

Despite the security concerns, the welfare of the hill tribes remained essential to the Indian government. To plug the gap of a formal bilateral agreement on the free movement of hill tribes, the Government of India signed a deal with the government of Myanmar in May 2018 on Land Border Crossing to formalise FMR between the two countries.

This agreement aligned well with India’s Act East Policy as well. Under FMR, individuals inhabiting the border areas are issued a one-year pass for unhindered movement up to 16 km without a visa for stays lasting up to two weeks in the neighbouring country. The scheme aims to promote people-to-people contact, trade, access to education and health services and better diplomatic relations.

However, the military coup d'état in January 2021 altered the security scenario in Myanmar. There are concerns in India about the influx of illegal immigrants from Myanmar potentially impacting the demographics of the northeastern states. Some believe this influx also will adversely affect the indigenous culture and traditions. Cultivation and trafficking of drugs and arms smuggling are other fundamental concerns. The number of cases and arrests under the NDPS Act in Manipur has shown a significant spike. Deforestation for poppy cultivation is also attributed to unregulated cross-border movement. Some insurgent groups from these states have repeatedly misused the FMR to evade enforcement agencies by seeking shelter in Myanmar. China’s growing influence in Myanmar adds another complex layer to the whole security environment in the region.

India is well within its right to defend its borders for security reasons. However, the concerns of the local people, particularly the indigenous ethnicities, must be addressed.

The FMR has been suspended since September 2022 after the situation in Myanmar worsened.

Can such suspension or revocation of FMR be implemented without a physical barrier to cross the international border? Fortunately, through its border guarding forces, India executes what is termed Comprehensive Border Management, which places significant emphasis on working with local communities. The Central government’s intention cannot be to alienate ethnicities by creating an artificial fence completely obstructing all interaction. The intent is instead to discourage and thwart the actions of anti-India elements, traffickers, criminals, and other miscreants.

Though not failproof, fences have been an effective and time-tested deterrent against cross-border crime, illegal infiltration, terrorism, and smuggling. The experience on the western and eastern frontiers of India, where the border has been fenced, is that local communities are allowed to till their land ahead of the fence up to the zero line, which is the actual border, under the supervision of the border guarding forces. Such farmers are issued identity cards to access their lands through designated gates provided in the fence to pursue agricultural activities. A similar arrangement on the Indo-Myanmar border with an adequate number of gates near the inhabited areas can allow the continuation of the Free Movement Regime, albeit with more caution under the supervision of the security forces. All miscreants, anti-national elements, criminals and traffickers may oppose the arrangement, but this provides a pragmatic solution to the emotional issue without diluting the security concerns. In fact, such a fence can serve as a bridge to cement socio-cultural and economic ties between the communities in a safe, secure and carefree environment.

The extraordinary situation in Myanmar and Manipur calls for exceptional measures. The fence will be erected at a considerable cost to the exchequer. Ideally, it should be manned by a regular border guarding force. The proposed arrangement may appear harsh, but it is not irreversible. Normalising the situation can lead to revising the suspension guidelines, and a more liberal regime for free movement can be rolled out.

The Union Home Ministry may examine the various aspects of the issue and engage with the state governments and all stakeholders to allay their misgivings about the fence and build consensus, bolstering national defence.

The writer is a former Director General of Police, Himachal Pradesh, and an alumnus of the National Defence College. Views expressed are personal