The Eastern Naga People’s Organisation (ENPO) has announced opposition to the scrapping of the Free Movement Regime (FMR) from the Indo-Myanmar border. In a statement issued through its media cell, ENPO declared that the people of Eastern Nagaland would not allow any move to shatter their harmonious way of life or bring stumbling block to the relation they shared with their brothers and sisters.
It strongly urged the Central government to desist from focusing only on one aspect of any given situation, but take a “balanced decision” keeping in mind the welfare of the people they governed, underscoring that good governance meant meeting the aspirations of the people, rather than imposing diktats. ENPO claimed that it was a fact well understood by all policymakers and powers that be of India that the boundary demarcation between India and Myanmar was only an imaginary line that was unilaterally decided and drawn by then Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and U Nu in 1953 without the consent of the Nagas, which had resulted in an artificial separation of Naga people and their lands across the international border.
Acknowledging that it appeared logical for outsiders to think of the people living across each side of the imaginary line as people of two different countries, the organisation however pointed out that nothing could be farther from the truth.
ENPO stated that the so-called international boundary between India and Myanmar, especially along the stretch of Eastern Nagaland arbitrarily, ran right in the middle of Naga homeland, the end result being that close relatives and families related by blood got automatically alienated from each other.
So, the tribes of the region, especially Konyaks, Khiamniungans, Yimkhiungs and Tikhirs, faced untold difficulties in moving freely during festivals or death of near and dear ones across the border and in doing cultivation, their only source of livelihood, besides the added problems of red-tape and other issues faced by those people to date.
Left powerless to raise their voices against their rights being trampled, the ENPO mentioned that the people had to silently endure the curtailment of their free movement and the feeling of being so near yet so far with their near and dear ones for more than half a century.
ENPO regretted that all these years, India and Myanmar did not give a thought on taking joint corrective steps to remove this man-made hurdle, causing sufferings to the people of the region.
Though border-pass was still mandatory for anyone to cross over to the other side, the ENPO acknowledged that the introduction of FMR by the Central government in 2018 as part of its Act East Policy came as a welcome respite for the affected people at least to some extent. The FMR guaranteed that anyone living within 16 km from the border on either side could venture into each other’s territory without the need to provide visa, adding that each visit from either side with valid border-pass could last for two weeks at a stretch.
However, the organisation said the government’s decision to abrogate FMR came as a complete shocker for the people. It recalled that the people of Eastern Nagaland had vehemently opposed even the Centre’s decision to fence the border in 2011.
The ENPO suggested that the India and Myanmar should opt to enhance the existing policy, instead of scrapping the FMR that had been implemented to benefit the people of the region.
The organisation claimed that the benefit of FMR on the Nagas living in and around the Indo-Myanmar border far outweighed any negative aspect that could follow. It urged the Centre to take new initiatives to holistically develop the region by promoting tourism and cultural ties between Indians and Indians of Myanmar through Longwa, Pangsha and Mimi international trade Centres (ITCs).
Further, as the ITCs had not seen any tangible developmental activities, the ENPO said the Centre should emphasise personal, human, social, economic and environmental development, besides providing basic amenities and services, social security and good governance.
In accordance with the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY), the organisation demanded that all schools in the borders should be equipped with smart classes, build pucca houses for the homeless, ensure universal access to basic health facilities, universal PDS for families, e-governance, etc, rather than scrapping the FMR and fence the border.