Will fence border with Myanmar, put end to free passage: Amit Shah

Animesh Singh

New Delhi, January 20

Home Minister Amit Shah said on Saturday the Centre was going to terminate the agreement with Myanmar on free movement of people into India, adding that the border with the country would be completely fenced, just like Bangladesh.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised that the border with Myanmar will be fenced completely on the lines of Bangladesh. Also, the government is revisiting the pact on free movement of people into India from Myanmar and is going to terminate it,” Shah said while addressing the passing-out parade of Assam Police commandos in Guwahati.

Once the Centre fences the India-Myanmar border, it will end the free movement regime (FMR), which allows people residing close to the border to venture 16 km into each other’s territory without a visa.

India shares a 1,643-km-long border with Myanmar, which passes through Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. All these states currently follow the FMR, which was implemented in 2018 as part of India’s Act East policy.

Shah’s remarks came a month after India raised its security concerns with Myanmar, especially challenges along the border, including the influx of Myanmar refugees and troops into the country.

Meanwhile, taking a jibe at Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Shah said families of youth who were martyred during insurgency days in Assam had opposed it.

He said ever since the BJP government came to power at the Centre, there had been a 73 per cent reduction in insurgency in the region.

Shah also addressed the 60th Raising Day funciton of the Sashastra Seema Bal in Tezpur, Assam. He said the country would be 100 per cent free from the Naxal problem in the next three years.

Country’s Act East policy

• The free movement regime allows people residing close to the border to venture 16 km into each other’s territory without a visa
• India shares a 1,643-km-long border with Myanmar, which passes through Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh
• All these states currently follow the free movement regime, which was implemented in 2018 as part of India’s Act East policy