Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio has proposed an Assembly resolution against the revised Free Movement Regime (FMR) with Myanmar after several MLAs expressed concern over the revised guidelines.

Responding to a question in the Assembly, Rio said the FMR was “a very serious issue” while explaining the position taken by the government following the announcement of fencing the border with Myanmar.

Four Indian states — Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland — share a 1643km border with Myanmar.

The FMR was an arrangement between India and Myanmar to allow those living on either side of the international border to enter as deep as 16 kilometers into each other’s territory without any official document/visa but it has been regulated now.

This movement is now restricted to 10 kilometers on either side and allowed through designated points with border pass in the four states.

Though Amit Shah on February 8, 2024, had announced the ministry of home affairs’s decision to scrap the FMR to ensure internal security and maintain the demographic structure of India’s northeastern states, no formal order was issued by the Centre. In December, the Centre revised the FMR guidelines, reducing the movement to 10 kilometers, among other changes.

Fencing of the border, as announced by Shah on February 6, 2024, has been started because the Centre wants “to facilitate better surveillance” and “a patrol track along the border will also be paved”.

Rio emphasised the need to appeal to the Union home ministry to review the FMR and the Protected Area Permit (PAP) as the situation in Nagaland “is not as severe as in some neighboring states” and suggested that “all 60 members of the Assembly pass a resolution, meet with the ministry of home affairs, and submit their concerns”.

During the discussion on a starred question regarding the FMR, several MLAs expressed concern over designated crossing points in the state.

Nagaland deputy chief minister, Yanthungo Patton said the Centre was regulating the FMR, which was informed to the state government through a letter on December 24.

Under the revised rules, movement is restricted to 43 designated crossing points, requiring a border pass issued by Assam Rifles.

In Nagaland, nine border crossing points have been designated in four districts — 3 in Kiphire and 2 each in Meluri, Mon, and Noklak districts.

Patton said that entries and exits are to be monitored by Assam Rifles, with two police personnel and two health officials deployed at each point. The border pass allows a single entry for up to seven days within 10 kilometers of the Indo-Myanmar border.

Patton said the Nagaland government is responsible for checking a Myanmar national’s border pass and addressing overstays or unauthorised activities. He, however, said no work order has been issued for fencing along the Nagaland border.

Sources said around 22 out of the 43 crossing points has become operational till February.

In March, the Nagaland Assembly had passed a resolution requesting the Centre to “reconsider” its decisions because these adversely impact age-old social and economic ties between people of the same stock living on either side of the border demarcated by the Britishers.