Source: X
Guwahati, Jan 21: Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that the Indian government will restrict free movement at the Myanmar border, similar to measures taken at the Bangladesh border.
Speaking during the first batch of the five recently formed Assam Police Commando battalions' passing out parade in Guwahati, the Union Minister stated that the Centre is reconsidering the free movement agreement with Myanmar with an aim to secure the border.
According to reports, people residing in the border areas share familial and ethnic ties, hence, the free movement regime allows people living on either side of the India-Myanmar border to venture 16 kilometres into each other’s territory without a visa and stay for up to two weeks.
Reports further revealed that 500 Myanmarese soldiers have crossed into India in the last three months to escape ethnic cleansing. Soldiers from Myanmar are said to have sought shelter in Mizoram after their camps were captured by militants from the Arakan Army, an armed ethnic group in the Western Myanmar state of Rakhine.
India and Myanmar share over 1,600-km-long border which passes through Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. Once the FMR is scrapped, people living on border regions will require a visa to enter the other country.
