Imphal, Aug 16 (IANS) A delegation of the United Naga Council (UNC), an apex body of Naga community in Manipur, on Saturday held a meeting with Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla and discussed the Free Movement Regime (FMR) and border fencing along India-Myanmar border.

A Raj Bhavan official said that during the meeting, the 10-member UNC delegation shared their views and concerns on matters related to the FMR and border fencing and requested the Governor to take up both the matters with the Union government.

“The Governor gave a patient hearing to the delegation and informed them that the matter has already been taken up with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA),” the official said.

He said that the Governor appealed to the members of the Council to maintain peace and restraint while constructive dialogue continues.

The UNC has been opposing the “unilateral abrogation of FMR and construction of border fencing along the India-Myanmar border”.

The Naga body has also announced to start agitation against the Centre’s decision. UNC President Ng. Lorho, who led the 10-member delegation to the Governor, said that as resolved in its council meeting, would continue with its agitation plan irrespective of whether a formal invitation for dialogue is extended or not.

The UNC-Governor meeting came in the backdrop of the expiry of the 20-day ultimatum served by the UNC to both the Centre and the state government regarding what it described as the “unilateral abrogation” of the FMR and the ongoing border fencing works.

Meanwhile, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Friday while addressing the Independence Day function in Kohima expressed his concern over the Centre’s decision to trim down the FMR along the India-Myanmar border from the earlier 16 km to 10 km and limiting movement to nine crossing points.

Rio urged the Union government to be flexible and review the sensitive issue. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) last year announced that the FMR, which earlier allowed people residing along the India-Myanmar border to travel 16 km into each other’s territory without a visa, would be scrapped soon.

Instead, the MHA decided to replace the FMR to adopt a new scheme to issue a pass to the border residents of both India and Myanmar living within 10 km on either side of the frontier to regulate cross-border movements.

The Nagaland Assembly earlier unanimously decided that an all-party delegation would meet the Union Home Minister to explain to him the “sentiment and resentment of the Naga people” against the MHA’s decision to cancel the FMR between India and Myanmar.

Participating in the discussion on the issue, the Chief Minister had told the house that the border movement restriction would affect the long-standing historical, ethnic, social, cultural, traditional and economic ties of Nagas living on both sides of the India-Myanmar border.

The Nagaland and Mizoram governments and a large number of political parties and civil societies in the two northeastern states have been opposing both border fencing and the scrapping of the FMR.

Four northeastern states — Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, and Mizoram — share a 1,643-km unfenced border with Myanmar.

The MHA had earlier decided to erect fencing on the entire porous border, known for the smuggling of arms, ammunition, narcotics and various other contrabands, at a cost of Rs 31,000 crore.

–IANS

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