Kohima: Hundreds of people from the Konyak community staged a series of protest rallies at multiple locations in Mon, Nagaland against the proposed border fencing and the scrapping of the Free Movement Regime (FMR) by the Government of India along the Indo-Myanmar border.
The protesters, led by the Konyak Union (KU) stated that the move would divide indigenous communities living on both sides of the border and disrupt their traditional way of life.
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Placards and banners displayed during the rally conveyed messages such as “Free movement inside our Konyak territory is outright, don’t snuff it out!” and “Walls create hatred, not security”.
In a representation to Nagaland Governor La Ganesan, the KU appealed for his intervention in reconsidering the decisions to fence the border and scrap the FMR provision of 2018.
The union added that these decisions would have a profoundly adverse impact on the Konyak Naga community, whose ancestral lands and people have been inseparably connected on both sides of the border since time immemorial.
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The KU also pointed out that the border demarcation between India and Myanmar was based on arbitrary colonial decisions, without the consent or knowledge of the Konyak Naga community.
They further said that the fencing of the boundary would deprive them of their farming lands, disrupt their livelihoods, and cause unimaginable hardship.
The union maintained that the decision to revoke the FMR and fence the 1,640 km boundary was based on false premises and a misrepresentation of the realities faced by indigenous communities.
They also pointed out that this move contradicted the central government’s own stated “Neighbourhood First” and “Act East” policies.
The KU rged the governor to take up the matter on humanitarian grounds with the central government, calling for reconsideration of these decisions.