Mizoram: ZORO to protest against scrapping of FMR with Myanmar

AIZAWL:  The Zo Re-Unification Organization (ZORO) has announced plans to stage demonstrations across Mizoram on January 29.

The protests are against the alleged scrapping of the Free Movement Regime (FMR) and the introduction of a new border pass system along the Indo-Myanmar border.

The organisation, which represents all ethnic Zo or Mizo tribes in India, Bangladesh and Myanmar, held a meeting under the chairmanship of its president R Sangkawia and discussed a wide range of issues, including the scrapping of the FMR, fencing of the Indo-Myanmar border and deportation of Bangladeshi refugees from Mizoram, the organisation general secretary L. Ramdinliana Renthlei said.

The meeting decided to stage demonstrations in Aizawl and other parts of Mizoram during which copies of both the Centre and state government's notifications scrapping the FMR and introducing a border pass system along the Mizoram-Myanmar border will be burned, he said. 

The ZORO also urged the Centre to revoke the notification, which stopped the FMR with Myanmar, the organisation also said in a statement. 

Earlier, the organisation had urged the Centre to reinstate the FMR, which facilitates a visa-free  movement across the India-Myanmar border and revoke the order mandating a border pass for people living within 10 km on either side to cross the international border. 

Sangkawia alleged that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has recently replaced the FMR  with a new system to regulate movement across the India-Myanmar border. 

As per the new system, which came into effect on January 1, people living within 10 km on either side of the border require a border pass to visit each other, he 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 would be regulated from 18 entry/exit points along the Mizoram-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 a 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 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 the 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. 

State's apex student body, Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) also said that it would write to the Centre over the alleged scrapping of the FMR.

Although Union Home Minister Amit Shah had announced in February last year that the FMR would be scrapped, no official notification in this regard has been issued so far, officials said. 

The ZORO also blamed both the state government and Assam Rifles, which guards the 510-km long Mizoram-Myanmar border, for allegedly pushing back 28 refugees from Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). 

The organisation said that the refugees entered south Mizoram's Lawngtlai district on January 5 seeking shelter and were allegedly detained by security forces for a few days. 

They were allegedly sent back to their country on January 11 following an arrangement made by the state government and Assam Rifles, it said.