NEW DELHI – The authorities in India are considering ending the Free Movement Regime with Myanmar, an agreement that allowed the movement of people without the need for a visa.
Although an official confirmation is awaited, reports in local media suggest that the Indian government is contemplating the abolition of the Free Movement Regime (FMR) along the Myanmar border.
This regime allows unrestricted movement for people from India and Myanmar across the unfenced border, up to 16 km in each other’s territories.
As per the Free Movement Regime (FMR), any individual from the hill tribes residing within a 16-kilometer stretch on either side of the border can freely cross by presenting a border pass valid for one year, allowing a stay of up to two weeks per visit.
The visa-free access was approved as part of India’s Look East policy in 2018 but the recent plans also include its termination along with fencing of the border.
The measures would make it necessary to carry a passport and visa for crossing the border. Chief Minister of Manipur, N Biren Singh, had also appealed to the central government for a permanent termination of the visa-free movement.
The India-Myanmar border, stretching across Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh, currently operates under the FMR protocol to bolster trade and business ties with Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific.
The Indian authorities are pushing for the termination of the regime to halt its misuse by insurgent groups who launch attacks on the Indian side and escape into Myanmar besides countering drug and gold smuggling networks.
As part of the plans, the authorities are also exploring the option to erect a fence spanning 300 kilometers along the India-Myanmar border.
The terrain of the area also necessitates the fencing of the border as Manipur shares approximately 390 kilometers of porous border with Myanmar, with only a small 10-kilometer stretch currently fenced.
What is bothering the Indian authorities is that the Mizoram area has also experienced an influx of anti-Junta rebels in the thousands following the military coup in Myanmar on February 1, 2021, with several thousand refugees now residing in various parts of the state.
