New Delhi: The Union government’s recent decision to end the free movement regime (FMR) with Myanmar has rattled civil society in Nagaland – so much so that a powerful students’ body, the Naga Students Federation (NSF), has shot off an appeal to the United Nations seeking its “immediate intervention”.Speaking to The Wire from Dimapur, NSF president Medovi Rhi said, “This arbitrary intervention by the Indian government will certainly affect the ongoing Naga peace talks as the Central government also needs to be equally sincere and committed to bring peace.”Medovi said India’s termination of the FMR understanding with Myanmar as per which people of the border areas on either side are allowed free movement till a 16 km radius will “once more divide the Naga people”.India’s decision to abolish the FMR arrangement with Myanmar comes soon after the Union home minister’s announcement on February 6 on fencing the entire border with Myanmar. The 1,643-km-long border of India with Myanmar is along the north-eastern states of Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.Last week, when New Delhi’s decision to remove the FMR agreement along Nagaland’s 215-km border with Myanmar reached the state, widespread civil society opposition came to the surface. Representative bodies of several Naga tribes including the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO) expressed their views differing with the Centre’s decision. It was the top news in all local newspapers on February 9, including the NSF’s appeal to the United Nations to intervene.The letter addressed to UN secretary general Antonio Guterres by NSF president Medovi Rhi was also published in full in the local newspaper Nagaland Post.While delineating “the unique history” of the Naga people, NSF accused the governments of Myanmar and India of “dividing” the Naga homeland into two countries. It called India’s decision to end the FMR understanding with Myanmar “a ploy” and “a clear evidence of the government of India’s insincerity and insensitivity towards the inherent Naga birth right and the hope of the Naga people to once again live as free people”.Reminding the UN about conducting “a plebiscite on May 16, 1951 wherein 99.9 per cent (of Nagas) wanted Independence from India”, NSF’s letter to the UN secretary general urged not only the international body but the government of India to also “explore the possibilities for a fresh referendum under the supervision of international bodies”.Medovi told The Wire, “The imaginary line drawn between Myanmar and India is anyway absolutely arbitrary and made without keeping our history in mind. That in some villages, the international border runs through some people’s houses proves my point. For instance, in Longwa village in Mon district, the international border runs through the chief’s house, dividing his living quarters and the kitchen. I want to ask the Union government, how are we to implement termination of FMR in those areas?”On being asked if NSF has received any response form the UN, Medovi said, “We had emailed the letter to his office but the physical letter is still being readied which should go out soon.”Meanwhile, all top tribal Hohos of Nagaland have urged the Nagaland government to intervene, leading the Neiphiu Rio cabinet to take a resolution to appeal to the Centre to continue the FMR arrangement. Rio had earlier acknowledged India’s security concerns considering the ongoing civil war in Myanmar but stated that the FRM needs to be regulated and not abolished.In 2017, the Nagaland assembly had taken a resolution to urge the Narendra Modi government to intervene when the Myanmar government had announced its fencing exercise along that border.As per news reports, the Rio government is also set to discuss the matter with the civil society groups and leaders of various Naga tribes on how to proceed further on the matter.Before the Union minister had announced the decision to fence the border, Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh had told reporters in New Delhi that the Centre had decided to take “key decisions” on the Manipur issue. Biren had made that announcement after a meeting with Amit Shah on February 4.On February 6, Shah announced his government’s decision to fence the border, a longstanding demand of Manipur’s majority Meitei community. The demand of the community to fence the Myanmar border came to the fore once again after the ethnic fight broke out with the Kukis of Manipur. Like the Nagas and the Mizos, Kukis of Manipur also share kinship with people residing on the other side of the international border.It is with the same concern that Mizoram’s lone Rajya Sabha MP K. Vanlalvena had urged Shah this February 10 to reconsider the decision.The same day, Mizoram chief minister Lalduhoma met Shah in New Delhi to discuss the border fencing issue and the Centre’s decision to scrap the FMR.Powerful civil society organisations like the Young Mizo Association (YMA) have vehemently opposed the Modi government’s decision to fence the Myanmar border and abolish the FRM understanding citing kinship with the people across the boundary.
