Aizawl groups urge Centre to reinstate FMR across Indo-Myanmar border

Aizawl: An Aizawl-based Chin-Kuki-Mizo-Zomi group on Tuesday urged the Centre to reinstate the Free Movement Regime (FMR), which facilitates a visa-free  movement across the Indo-Myanmar border.

The Zo Re-unification Organisation (ZORO), which represents ethnic Zo or Mizo tribes of India, Myanmar and Bangladesh, also demanded the revocation of the order mandating a border pass for people living within 10 km on either side to cross the international border. 

Speaking to reporters, the organisation president R. Sangkawia said that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has recently replaced the FMR  with a new system to regulate movement across the India-Myanmar border. 

However, officials said that no official notification scrapping the FMR with Myanmar has been issued so far. 

As per the new system, which came into effect on January 1, people living within 10-km on either side of the border will now require a border pass to visit each other,  Sangkawia  said. 

He said that in its letter communicated to the Mizoram chief secretary about the new system on December 24 last year, the MHA said that entry will be regulated from 18 entry/exit points along the Indo-Myanmar border. 

While Zokhawthar and Hnahlan cross points in east Mizoram's Champhai district will be implemented as pilot sites, 3 crossing points in Lawngtlai district will be set up under phase-I and another 13 points  in all the six districts, which share border with Myanmar, will be set up under phase-II, the MHA said in the letter, according to Sangkawia.

According to the new guidelines, an individual will now require a "border pass" to travel to and from Myanmar, which will be issued by the Assam rifles for only people living within 10-km on either side of the border for a stay of up to 7 days,  he said. 

An individual seeking for the border pass must produce a document or certificate to prove that he or she lives within a 10-km radius of the borders, he said.

The identity proof document can be issued by  local police station officer-in-charge or village chief or village authority (administrator).

The MHA letter also said that movement of border residents from Myanmar and India would be allowed for “specific reasons such as visiting relatives, tourism, business, medical treatment and cultural exchange programmes," Sangkawia said. 

He blamed the Centre for allegedly trampling on the rights of the indigenous people and not honouring the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People UNDRIP), 2007, to which India is one of the signatories. 

Article 36 of the UNDRIP asserts the right of indigenous peoples divided by international borders, to maintain and develop contacts, relations, and cooperation across borders for spiritual, cultural, political, economic, and social purposes—with their own members as well as with other peoples across borders, Sangkawia said. 

It is also very surprising to learn of the Centre assigning the task of issuing border pass to the Assam Rifles while it is supposed to be done by a civil officer or magistrate, he said.