The army carried out a “major sanitisation and de-mining operation” along the India–Myanmar border at Yangoubung in Manipur’s Tengnoupal district “following a requisition” from government agencies to enable the resumption of stalled border-fencing work in the area.
A statement issued by the defence PRO said the red shield division of the Indian Army’s spear corps undertook the operation at Yangoubung under Moreh police station “between border pillars 72 and 73” over two days beginning February 16.
“The task was undertaken following a requisition from government agencies to facilitate the resumption of stalled border-fencing work amid intelligence inputs regarding improvised explosive devices and unexploded ordnances owing to the presence of erstwhile insurgent camps,” the statement said.
Operating in dense jungle terrain under “challenging” security conditions, the
team cleared and sanitised a corridor measuring 2.6km by 13m.
“During the operation, nine IEDs and two unexploded ordnance were destroyed, thereby removing a serious threat to innocent lives. The operation also enabled Survey of India teams and construction agencies to proceed with critical border-infrastructure work,” the statement added.
A government official said Yangoubung is a Kuki-Zo majority area.
A similar operation was carried out in January by security forces and police after Yangoubung villagers reported unexploded bombs near border pillars 72–73. Three IEDs were neutralised at that time. Three more IEDs were recovered during the second phase of the operation carried out in the Tarao Lamkhai area under Tengnoupal PS.
India shares a 1,643km border with Myanmar across Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram. Five districts of Manipur share a 398km stretch of this border.
The Kuki-Zo and Naga people living along the international boundary oppose the fencing work because they believe that the tightening of the free movement regime (FMR) and the ongoing fencing will have a “detrimental effect” on maintaining ethnic and cultural ties between communities residing on both sides of the border.
By February 2025, more than nine kilometres of fencing had been completed near Moreh in Tengnoupal district while “another one km” has been finished since, an official said.
Union home minister Amit Shah had on February 6, 2024, announced the decision to fence the border with Myanmar to curb influx from across the frontier, which Meitei-based groups blame for the ongoing turmoil in the state. The Border Roads
Organisation (BRO) is executing the fencing work with the support of central and state police forces.
In December, nearly 150–200 metres of fencing was cut in Manipur’s Chandel district between border pillars 67 and 68. Around 47 fencing poles were cut on January 14–15, damaging another 150 metres between border pillar 62 and subsidiary pillar 62/2.
An official said the Assam Rifles, the BRO and the district administration are working in tandem to complete the fencing work, but security has to be beefed up to check attempts by miscreants to damage the barrier. Assam Rifles is the border-guarding force in Manipur.
