Four leading Manipur-based Naga organisations on Tuesday issued a 20-day ultimatum to the Centre to revoke the order abrogating the Free Movement Regime (FMR) with Myanmar and to immediately halt ongoing border fencing activities along the India-Myanmar border in Naga ancestral areas.
In separate memoranda submitted to the Prime Minister, home minister, defence minister and external affairs minister through the Manipur governor, the organisations also demanded the initiation of a meaningful and time-bound dialogue with Naga civil societies and affected stakeholders. They warned of resuming intensified protest movements across all Naga hill districts of Manipur if their demands remain unaddressed.
The organisations — United Naga Council (UNC), All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur (ANSAM), Naga Women’s Union (NWU) and Naga Peoples Movement for Human Rights-South (NPMHR-S) — were represented by a 10-member delegation. The memoranda, identical in content and submitted on a UNC letterhead, were handed over to the governor on Tuesday.
Union home minister Amit Shah had announced the decisions to fence the border and abrogate the FMR in February 2024. The FMR, a bilateral arrangement between India and Myanmar, allowed people residing on either side of the international border to travel up to 16km into each other’s territory without documents. This has now been reduced to 10km since December 24, 2024, and regulated through border passes.
The memorandum to external affairs minister S. Jaishankar, shared with The Telegraph, expressed deep concern and resentment against the Centre’s actions, terming them violations of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), especially Articles 8, 26, and 36. It said the decisions were made without due consultation with indigenous communities.
The groups listed multiple protest actions taken since 2024, including media statements, rallies and government office picketing in Naga-inhabited districts, registering strong opposition to both measures.
The India-Myanmar border runs along Manipur (398km), Mizoram (510km), Arunachal Pradesh (520km) and Nagaland. In Manipur, the fencing is planned along an 80km stretch in Tengnoupal and Chandel districts — areas predominantly inhabited by Nagas.
The UNC, in an earlier memorandum to Manipur governor A.K. Bhalla in May, said ending the FMR and initiating fencing on the grounds of security, arms smuggling, and illegal immigration was a veiled attempt to divide indigenous Nagas. These moves, they said, have severed deep historical and familial ties with their kin across the border in Myanmar. Kuki-Zo and Mizo groups are also opposing the fencing on similar grounds.
