FREE MOVEMENT REGIME

India follows a neighborhood-first approach in its foreign policy by which its neighboring states are given utmost relevance . Myanmar is connected to India in strategic, economic, cultural and religious terms. Geographically Myanmar is the connecting link between South and South East Asia. But this Indo-Myanmar relationship is also not without any challenges.

On May 3, violence broke out in Manipur between the majority community of Meitei and the minority community of Kuki. The outcome of the revolt was very devastating as it resulted in a large number of deaths, injuries, damages to properties and displacement of people. The ongoing Manipur issue also raised questions regarding the various government policies like the Free Movement Regime(FMR).

The government since the very beginning tried and tested various measures like laws, policies and programs to solve various problems in the North Eastern Region. The Free Movement Regime (FMR) is one among them. In simple words, FMR is a mutually agreed arrangement made by India and Myanmar for allowing people living in the border areas of the two countries to travel up to 16 Km inside the other country without a visa or any other restriction and stay there for a maximum of 14 days.

INDIA - MYANMAR BORDER

Credits : Bloomberg.com

During colonial rule in India, Britain gradually conquered the region of Burma and incorporated it into the British Indian region. Later, the Myanmar region got split from India and became a separate colony and the Britishers drew the boundary line between India and Myanmar. India and Myanmar became independent in 1947 and 1948 respectively. Later on 10 March 1967, Myanmar and India signed a treaty on boundary and demarcated their territories. Today, India and Myanmar share a long border of 1643 km in the northeast states of Arunachal Pradesh (520 km), Nagaland (215 km), Manipur (398 km), and Mizoram (510 km). The Assam Rifles is currently in charge of the Indo-Myanmar border. Recently the government proposed the creation of the Indo-Myanmar Border Force (IMBF) to guard the border.

BORDER ISSUES

Since the very beginning, the border region has been highly unstable due to porous border, boundary issues, poor security, insurgency, conflicts between several communities, illegal migration (Rohingya issue), cross-border crimes like goods, arms and currency smuggling, drug and human trafficking, lack of infrastructure and so on.

Both the countries are not giving enough attention to their border region and it is not well managed when compared to India’s other borders. Assam Rifles is also suffering from several challenges in the border management. They are originally a counter-insurgency force rather than a border management force and multiple tasks assigned to them make them weak. The border is also a region where several anti-national activities take place. All these led to concerns over the Indo-Myanmar border region.

FREE MOVEMENT REGIME

By considering the need for a stable and secure border, both governments have taken several measures like controlling terrorism, insurgency and other illegal activities; improving infrastructure and connectivity; several bilateral and multilateral partnerships and so on. Improving the people-to-people ties is very important for border management as several groups and marginalized tribal communities are living on both sides of the border, which are historically, religiously and culturally connected. Here comes the significance of the policy of the Free Movement Regime.

The Free Movement Regime (FMR) was adopted in 2018 as part of the Act East Policy. It facilitates the ‘to and from migration’ of people of both countries living in the Indo-Myanmar border region without a visa or any other restrictions. The FMR allows people to travel up to 16 km in each other's territories and can stay there for a maximum period of 14 days.

SIGNIFICANCE OF FREE MOVEMENT REGIME

From the very beginning, the Indo-Myanmar Border has remained contentious . The problem has its roots in the colonial period. It was the Britishers who first demarcated the Indo-Myanmar border. They did it according to their convenience without considering the will of the local population. This resulted in the split of people with the same culture and lifestyle into two countries. There are some regions in certain villages of Manipur like Moreh where some houses within the villages fall within the boundary of Myanmar. In the Mon district in Nagaland, the Indo-Myanmar boundary line passes through the house of the village chief of Longwa by splitting it into two parts. This policy is aimed to address such issues created historically due to the border divisions which even divided people belonging to the same culture and ethnicity without their consent. FMR helps to establish people-to-people contacts by solving such problems and promoting cultural exchanges.

The economy of the North East part of India is a low-income generating one. FMR promotes local trade and business and helps to establish good trade relations between the two countries. Such exchanges boost the local economy and can play a vital role in generating livelihood for a large section of people in the region. This will also improve the local infrastructure like transportation, communication services, basic facilities and public services and can result in improving the standard of living and quality of life of the local population. Also for people residing in border regions of Myanmar, the towns in India are much more accessible than what they have in their country. So through the FMR, they can easily come to nearby Indian towns for their daily business, education, health care etc. This will be beneficial for our economy.

CHALLENGES TO FMR

FMR is a policy for creating harmonious relations between the countries; but in reality, it led to concerns over illegal migrations like that of the Rohingya crisis. The Identification of a large number of illegal migrants in several North Eastern States raised severe security concerns and ethnic tension. The migration of people is very difficult to monitor due to the long forested and unfenced borders and undulating terrain. Excessive migration caused demographic and environmental problems.

Also, there are several insurgent groups like the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), The United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) and small groups of Kukis, Zomies have their camps in Myanmar. They illegally migrate and settle in the Indian region. This led to the promotion of insurgent ideas in India.

The FMR is also widely misused by several groups to carry out several illegal and anti-national activities like smuggling, drugs and weapons trafficking etc. These activities are done with the involvement or help of the locals living there. The poor economic situation of the people compels them to engage in such activities. Due to political instability followed by military rule in Myanmar, the Free Movement Regime was temporarily suspended in September 2022 to address the challenges posed by a politically unstable border.

WAY FORWARD

FMR is a policy that is very much needed in the North Eastern region. But like all other policies, this also suffers from various challenges and it is a fact that these challenges are very severe and its solution is also not very easy.

FMR is reviewed by the government from time to time and made several changes. There are even situations when this is temporarily suspended. However, the complete recall of the FMR is undesirable and not favoured by the local people as that might affect them severely. There are different views regarding this. Groups like Meiteis wanted the border to be completely closed. But others like people in the Moreh group have their ancestral lands in the Myanmar side and they want this to be continued. As the socio-economic situation and demography of the North East is changing drastically there is an alarming increase in illegal activities and crimes. It is a fact that FMR also has a role in this. It is high time that India needs to do something in this regard. India should focus on revising and updating the provisions of FMR by considering the changing situations. It is also important to implement some regulatory mechanisms without harming the sentience of local people.

Focusing on infrastructural development of the North East region will have a direct positive impact in solving the majority of problems. The government should carry out awareness programs for the people in the region and make them aware of the realities about border problems. It is also good to demarcate specific areas with high-security checking and only through those checkpoints people can cross the border. So the government should always keep an eye on the movements through the border. More security forces should be deployed in the border regions. India can also do fencing of problematic regions of the border. The cooperative effort of both the Union and State governments is very necessary for taking progressive steps. The political, and diplomatic cooperation of neighbouring countries is also necessary for peaceful border management. So both countries should work together in this regard to frame a common plan for FMR by understanding the demands of both sides without harming the aspirations of the border population of both countries.

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BY : SaiKrishnan JS

saikrishnanjayababu@gmail.com