Indo-Myanmar Border, Free Movement Regime (FMR)

Indo-Myanmar Border

• Context (TH): An advanced smart fencing system of 100 km along the Myanmar border is being planned to strengthen the existing surveillance system.
• Indo-Myanmar Border (IMB) is a 1,643 km long border between Myanmar and four Indian states, namely Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh.
• A Free Movement Regime (FMR) exists between India and Myanmar.
• Manipur CM urged the GoI to cancel the Free Movement Regime (FMR) along Myanmar.
• The absence of fencing and uncontrolled migration from Myanmar are identified as contributing factors to ethnic violence in Manipur.

Free Movement Regime (FMR)

• The FMR is a mutually agreed arrangement between India and Myanmar that allows tribes living along the border on either side to travel up to 16 km inside the other country without a visa.
• It was implemented in 2018 as part of the GoI’s Act East policy.
• The Manipur government has suspended the FMR since 2020, post-COVID-19 pandemic.
• As the crisis in Myanmar escalated, GoI suspended the FMR in September 2022.

Why was FMR started?

• The British demarcated the border between India and Myanmar in 1826.
• The British did not seek the people’s opinion in the region.
• The border effectively divided people of the same ethnicity and culture into two nations.
• FMR was conceptualised:
  • To facilitate people-to-people contact.
  • To provide impetus to local trade and business.

FMR and illegal migration

• The FMR has been criticised for aiding illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and gun running.
• Since the military coup in Myanmar in 2021, the junta has launched a campaign of persecution against the Kuki-Chin people. This has pushed many of Myanmar’s tribals into India.

Way forward

• Most experts agree that the FMR needs better regulation. Given the interests of the local population, neither the complete removal of the FMR nor full border fencing may be desirable.