Mizo student organization urges Center to reconsider its decision to erect fence along India-Myanmar border
Mizoram’s apex student body Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reconsider the Centre’s decision to erect a fence along the India-Myanmar border and scrap the free movement regime.
In the letter sent through state Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati, the MZP expressed concern and protest over the Centre’s decision to erect fencing along the India-Myanmar border.
It said fencing the India-Myanmar border and abolishing the FMR would “divide” the ethnic Zo people living in India and Myanmar.
“Although the Zoe people have been divided by administrative divisions since the colonial era and by international borders in the post-colonial era, we do not feel separated,” the organization said in the letter on Monday.
“It (FMR) enables us to attend each other’s funerals, marriage ceremonies, visit patients at home, attend religious meetings and attend local level sports tournaments. The decision to end the FMR regime will take away these essential aspects and it will deprive us of our rights as human beings like other communities around the world”, it said.
Urging the Center to reconsider its decision to fence the India-Myanmar border and dismantle the FMR, the organization said concerns such as drug trafficking and smuggling should be addressed without resorting to actions that divide indigenous Zo communities. Alternative measures can be explored to overcome this.
The organization said the petition serves as a plea for a thoughtful reconsideration with a focus on preserving the cultural and social fabric of the Zo people along the India-Myanmar border.
Addressing a function in Guwahati on Saturday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that the Center will fence the entire India-Myanmar border and also scrap the FMR with Myanmar.
Responding to Shah’s statement, Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma had said that the state government does not have the right to stop the Center from its decision, but it strongly opposes the fencing of the international border and scrapping of the FMR.
