Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday announced that India’s open borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh will be barbed. Speaking at passing out parade of state police commandos in Assam, Shah said, “Our borders with Myanmar is an open border. The Narendra Modi government has decided to protect the India-Myanmar border…and we will work towards building fence in the entire border area (with Myanmar) on par with the borders with Bangladesh.”
The Union Minister’s statement comes as hundreds of Myanmar soldiers are said to have crossed the border into India to flee an advance by armed insurgents fighting the country’s junta.
Quoting government sources, an NDTV report said around 600 Myanmar Army soldiers crossed into India in the last three months and took refuge in Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district after their camps were captured by the Arakan Army (AA) militants – an ethnic armed group in the western Myanmar state of Rakhine.
By building a fence along the Myanmar border, India will scrap the Free Movement Regime (FMR) between the two countries. This means that people living in border regions will soon require a visa to enter the other country.
“The India-Myanmar border will be protected like the Bangladesh border… The Government of India will stop the free movement with Myanmar,” Shah said.
Earlier today, the Mizoram government urged the Centre to ensure that the soldiers from the neighbouring nations are sent back.
In September 2023, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh had urged the Central government to stop the Free Movement Regime (FMR) along the Indo-Myanmar border to curb “illegal immigration”.
