Thousands rally in Kohima against Indo-Myanmar border fencing; submit memorandum to Amit Shah

Public rally decries policies that ‘uproot’ people from ancestral lands

Thousands of members from Naga tribal bodies took to the streets of Kohima today in a public rally organized by the Angami Public Organization (APO), protesting the proposed border fencing along the India-Myanmar boundary. The demonstrators also submitted a memorandum addressed to Union Home Minister Amit Shah through the Governor of Nagaland.

The memorandum, signed by 19 Naga tribal units based in Kohima, demanded an “immediate stop to the Indo-Myanmar border fencing,” the “restoration of the Free Movement Regime in its original form,” and the withdrawal of the “Protected Area Permit (PAP) from Nagaland.”

Expressing deep concern, the signatories highlighted what they termed “a series of policy decisions of the Government of India that has far-reaching consequences for the Naga indigenous people inhabiting the India-Myanmar borderlands.” Referring to Amit Shah’s announcement on February 6, 2024, to scrap the Free Movement Regime (FMR) and erect border fencing, they stated that the decision “stunned our people as it would amount to uprooting them from their ancestral land.”

The memorandum further noted, “Recognizing the gravity of the issue, our people rose in unison to oppose the government’s decision to withdraw the FMR.” Despite “representations from various quarters of the society” and a resolution by the Nagaland state government opposing the move, the signatories lamented that “much to our dismay, under the façade of not entirely scrapping the FMR, the central government issued tighter guidelines, dismissing the collective voice of our people.”

On December 24, 2024, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued revised guidelines that “introduced the ‘border pass’ system that limited territorial area for cross-border movement of people living in the border area to 10 km.” It also pointed out that “only 9 entry/exit points were designated on the Nagaland border that shares a 215 km border with Myanmar.”

The groups also highlighted that prior to the issuance of the revised guidelines, on December 17, 2024, the MHA ordered the withdrawal of the relaxation granted to Nagaland in the Protected Area regime notified under the Foreigners (Protected Areas) Order, 1958. The order “made it mandatory for foreigners to obtain Protected Area Permit (PAP)/Restricted Area Permit (RAP),” the memorandum stated.

“It is no coincidence that the 17 December 2024 order and the 24 December 2024 guidelines were issued back-to-back,” the groups said, warning that with the territorial limit reduced on each side of the India-Myanmar border, “an indigenous Naga who enters India beyond the 10 km limit can be booked and charged under the Foreigners Act.”

“In the name of introducing a new system to regulate cross-border movement of people, the government has yet again violated the historical and cultural rights of the Naga indigenous people,” the memorandum stated.

The Naga groups reminded the Centre that “India’s few decades of existence as a nation-state cannot negate the fact that much before the modern Indian nation-state came into being, the indigenous Nagas had long established their homeland in the Naga Hills (the present-day India-Myanmar borderlands).” They emphasized that it is from this historical reality that “the Nagas derive their historical rights.”

The memorandum further stated, “It is also a historical fact that the modern Indian nation-state was an outcome of British colonialism inheriting the legacy of ‘colonial borders’, which were arbitrarily drawn without the consent of indigenous communities.” The Naga bodies maintained that while “post-colonial India recognized the ‘colonial borders’ as international borders,” the indigenous Naga communities “never accepted the ‘colonial borders’ that divided our people and our land.”

Tracing the origins of the Free Movement Regime (FMR), the memorandum recalled that the arrangement was a recognition of the traditional way of life of the Nagas. “The initial informal arrangement allowed the Nagas on both sides of the border to move freely 40 km on both sides to maintain their age-old ties,” it stated. However, this distance was reduced to 16 km in 2018, and now further curtailed to 10 km. The Naga bodies warned that the “new border policies and regulations introduced by the Government of India simply remind us of the colonial rulers whose interests were driven solely by the hunger for power and control of territory with no respect for the indigenous people.”

Calling for immediate action, the memorandum demanded the revocation of the newly introduced “border pass” system. It asserted, “For the Nagas living in the India-Myanmar borderlands, the international border is just an imaginary line. Since time immemorial the Nagas have considered the India-Myanmar borderlands as one social, cultural and economic space.”

The Naga bodies expressed outrage over the requirement for indigenous people to obtain permission to move within their own homeland, stating, “Today, forcing our people to obtain a ‘border pass’ to move in their own land is unacceptable as it is tantamount to taking permission to move around in one’s own house.”

Since the implementation of the new system, the memorandum noted that residents of the bordering districts have been “bearing the brunt” of the policy, facing significant hardships and disruption of their traditional way of life.

The groups asserted, “We oppose erecting border fences on the India-Myanmar border as we are against the idea of dividing our ancestral land.” They described the fencing as “an outright violation of our indigenous rights,” stressing that constructing fences would further divide their people and land.

Appealing for the reinstatement of the FMR, they urged the government to “restore the FMR in its entirety and the original form not only as a mark of respect to the historical and cultural rights of the Nagas but also to maintain order and stability in the sensitive India-Myanmar borderlands.” While reiterating their commitment to democratic protests, the groups cautioned, “We would also like to firmly state that we will not allow our rights to be compromised at any cost. Our democratic appeal and civilized protest to safeguard our rights should not be seen as our weakness.”

Additionally, the memorandum demanded the “immediate withdrawal of Protected Area Permit (PAP)/Restricted Area Permit (RAP) from Nagaland.” They warned that reading the imposition of PAP/RAP together with the new border pass system “exposes the sinister design of the Government of India as the two form a lethal combination that can be used against our people for no fault of theirs.” Calling it a “direct assault on the indigenous rights of the Nagas,” the groups also expressed concern that the PAP would “virtually stop the visit of foreign tourists to the festivals of Nagaland and the North Eastern states and will do much damage to the growing tourism industry in Nagaland.”

The groups reminded the government of its international obligations, pointing out that “as a signatory to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007),” India must respect indigenous rights in the context of borders. Citing Article 36 of the Declaration, they stated that, “Indigenous peoples, in particular those divided by international borders, have the right to maintain and develop contacts, relations and cooperation, including activities for spiritual, cultural, political, economic and social purposes, with their own members as well as other peoples across borders.”

The memorandum further emphasized that “States, in consultation and cooperation with indigenous peoples, shall take effective measures to facilitate the exercise and ensure the implementation of this right.”

MT