The ‘free movement regime’ along the India-Myanmar border, and why it has complicated the volatile situation in Manipur

The ‘free movement regime’ along the India-Myanmar border, and why it has complicated the volatile situation in Manipur

Subject: Geography

Section: Places in news

Context:

• The Illegal migration of tribal Kuki-Chin peoples into India from Myanmar is one of the key issues in the ongoing ethnic conflict between Meiteis and Kukis in Manipur.

Details:

• While the Meiteis have accused these illegal migrants and the alleged “narco-terror network” along the Indo-Myanmar Border (IMB) of fomenting trouble in the state, the Kukis have blamed the Meiteis and Chief Minister N Biren Singh, a Meitei himself, of using this as a pretext for “ethnic cleansing”.
• Questions have been raised on the Free Movement Regime (FMR) that facilitates migration across the IMB.

The Free Movement Regime (FMR) on the India-Myanmar Border (IMB):

• The border between India and Myanmar runs for 1,643 km in the four states of Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh.
• The FMR is a mutually agreed arrangement between the two countries that allows the tribes living along the border on either side to travel up to 16 km inside the other country without a visa.
• The FMR was implemented in 2018 as part of the government’s Act East policy at a time when diplomatic relations between India and Mvanmar were on the upswing.
• The FMR was to be put in place in 2017 itself, but was deferred due to the Rohingya refugee crisis.
• At present, India suspended the FMR in September 2022.

Why was such a regime of free movement conceptualised?

• The India-Myanmar border was demarcated by the Britishers in 1826, without the consent of people living in those regions.
• Many of the people with the same ethnicity and culture live across the border. Thus the free movement is conceptualised.
• Apart from this it will also provide impetus to the local trade, business, healthcare and education, as the region has a long history of trans-border commerce through customs and border hats.

Issue with the FMR:

• It is unintentionally aiding illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and gun running.
• The Indo-Myanmar border runs through forested and undulating terrain, is almost entirely unfenced, and difficult to monitor.
• Coup in Myanmar has led to large scale movement of the Kuki-Chin peoples into India, especially into Manipur and Mizoram, leading to deforestation.

Widespread drug trafficking across the IMB:

• Several insurgent groups such as the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), and small groups of Kukis and Zomis have built camps in Sagaing Division, Kachin State, and Chin State (in Myanmar).
• They took shelter there, obtained arms, trained cadres, and, most importantly, engaged in illegal activities such as smuggling drugs and selling weapons to raise funds.
• A large quantity of narcotics, including heroin, opium, brown sugar, and ganja, crystal meth and yaba (a mix of methamphetamine and caffeine), and prescription drugs such as the stimulant pseudoephedrine and analgesic spasmoproxyvon, were seized, and several thousand acres of poppy were destroyed during the same period.
• The value of the drugs seized or destroyed is estimated to have been more than Rs 1,227 crore in the international market.
• The regime has been reviewed from time to time, and the FMR needs better regulation.

What is Manipur’s ethnic composition?

• The State is like a football stadium with the Imphal Valley representing the playfield at the center and the surrounding hills the galleries. The valley, which comprises about 10% of Manipur’s landmass, is dominated by the non-tribal Meitei who account for more than 64% of the population of the State and yields 40 of the State’s 60 MLAs.
• The hills comprising 90% of the geographical area are inhabited by more than 35% recognised tribes but send only 20 MLAs to the Assembly.

While a majority of the Meiteis are Hindus followed by Muslims, the 33 recognised tribes, broadly classified into ‘Any Naga tribes’ and ‘Any Kuki tribes’ are largely Christians.