Tako Dabi

Agartala, Aug. 10: The demand to fence the region’s borders is fast becoming stronger with the Arunachal Pradesh government urging the Centre to begin fencing of the 1,643km border with Myanmar to act as a deterrent against trans-border movement of militants.

Disclosing this, Arunachal Pradesh home minister Tako Dabi said, “Different militant groups from the region are using the jungles of the state as their corridor to go to Myanmar and China and vice versa.”

Dabi was here for the 103rd birth anniversary celebrations of Tripura’s first chief minister Sachindra Lal Singh.

He said it was extremely difficult to curb trans-border movement of militants across the sprawling and thickly wooded areas of Arunachal Pradesh, which has a total area of 83,743 square km.

“We have a long international border with Bhutan in the west (160km), China in the north (1,080km) and Myanmar in the east (440km) and the immediate threat is the porous border with Myanmar. In case the Centre cannot fence the entire border, at least the 440km section with Arunachal Pradesh must be fenced without any further delay” Dabi said.

Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram share a 1,643km border with Myanmar. It is manned by the Assam Rifles and dense forests in most parts make the border porous and vulnerable to trans-border movement. According to the minister, Ulfa, NDFB and the Isak-Muivah and Khaplang factions of the NSCN have set up their base camps in the jungles of Arunachal Pradesh.

Dabi said 37 Naga militants had laid down arms before the Arunachal Pradesh government earlier this month.

Speaking on the demand for greater Nagaland by the NSCN (I-M), Dabi said, “We have told the Centre and passed a unanimous resolution in the Assembly proclaiming that not an inch of land of Arunachal Pradesh would be spared for the so-called greater Nagaland.”

The NSCN (I-M) has been struggling for nearly six decades to create a “Greater Nagaland” by slicing off parts of three neighbouring states — Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh — to unite 1.2 million Nagas.

The minister stressed the need for joint efforts of all the states of the region to remove economic backwardness.

“All the chief ministers, MPs and leaders of the eight states must jointly approach the Centre to resolve the problems of the region,” Dabi said.

He added that there were many common problems relating to security, economy, health, education, unemployment and infrastructure and all these must be resolved through united efforts.