12-Jun-2017: Government constitutes panel to study free movement along Myanmar border

The Union Home Ministry has constituted another committee to examine methods to curb the misuse of free movement along the Myanmar border, indicating a significant shift in India’s policy towards Myanmar with which it shares unfenced borders and unhindered movement of people across the border. India shares 1,643-km long border with Myanmar that passes through four states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram.

Free movement regime is being misused by militants and trans-border criminals who smuggle weapons, contraband goods and fake Indian currency notes. Taking advantage of the free-movement regime, occasionally they enter India, commit crimes and escape to their relatively safer hideouts.

The formation of Myanmar as a separate State in 1935 and decolonization of the sub-continent in 1947 divided ethnic communities living along the Indo-Myanmar border. These communities, particularly Nagas, found the newly created boundary to be inconsistent with the traditional limits of the region they inhabited. And they felt a deep sense of insecurity because they became relegated to the status of ethnic minorities on both sides of the border. To address their concerns and enable greater interaction among them, the India and Myanmar governments established the Free Movement Regime (FMR), which allowed Nagas to travel 16 kilometres across the border on either side without any visa requirements.