• Source:ANI
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The Nagaland Legislative Assembly on Friday passed a resolution urging the Government of India to reconsider its decision to suspend the Free Movement Regime (FMR) and fence the Indo-Myanmar border, which would affect the lives and livelihoods of the Naga people living in the border areas.

The resolution, moved by Deputy Chief Minister Y Patton, who also holds charge of Home and Border, stated that the FMR suspension and border fencing would cause immense hardship, inconvenience and agony to the Naga people, who have historical, social, tribal and economic ties with their counterparts across the border.

"Now, therefore, in view of the special and unique situation mentioned above, this House, hereby, resolves to request the Government of India to reconsider its decision, and to abandon the plan of suspending the FMR and fencing along the Indo-Myanmar border," it stated.

The House requested the Government of India to work out regulations for the movement of people across borders in close consultation with the people inhabiting the border areas and for suitably bringing in the village council authorities concerned in the entire system of regulations.

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The resolution came in the wake of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s announcement earlier this month for “immediate suspension of FMR” between India and Myanmar to ensure the internal security of the country and to maintain the demographic structure of India’s North Eastern states bordering Myanmar.

"It is Prime Minister Narendra Modi'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," HM AMit Shah said in the post.

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The FMR, which was initiated in 2018 as a part of India’s Act East policy, allows individuals living near the India-Myanmar border to travel 16 km into each other’s territories without a visa. The India-Myanmar border is 1,643 km long and spans Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.

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