Union Home Minister Amit Shah has announced that India would fence the border along Myanmar in a bid to restrict free movement into India. The announcement comes amid a high number of Myanmar soldiers fleeing into India to escape ethnic clashes.
“India’s border with Myanmar to be protected like border with Bangladesh,” Amit Shah said at passing out parade of Assam Police commandos.
Nearly 600 Myanmar Army soldiers have crossed into India in the last three months. They 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 – government sources said.
Installing a fence along the border, India will scrap the Free Movement Regime (FMR) between the two countries. People living on border regions will soon require a visa to enter the other country.
The FMR was brought in the 1970s as people living along the India-Myanmar border have familial and ethnic ties.
Earlier today, the Mizoram government reached out to the Centre urging them to quickly ensure that the soldiers from the neighbouring nations are sent back.
As fighting rages between rebel forces in Myanmar and the junta-regime, hundreds of Myanmar Army personnel are fleeing to India.
Myanmar’s generals are facing their biggest test since they seized power in a 2021 coup after three ethnic minority forces launched a coordinated offensive in late October, capturing some towns and military posts and forcing soldiers to flee.