Imphal, Sep 11: The Manipur government has requested the United Naga Council (UNC), the apex body of the Naga community in the state, to withdraw the indefinite “Trade Embargo” along the National Highways in Naga-inhabited areas, officials said on Thursday.
The UNC and other Naga organisations enforced the Trade Embargo in all Naga people inhabited areas since midnight of September 8 in protest against the fencing along the India-Myanmar international border and the scrapping of the Free Movement Regime (FMR).
A senior official in Imphal said that hundreds of goods-laden and empty trucks, along with transport fuel carrying tankers, were stranded at different places on Imphal-Jiribam National Highway (NH-37) and Imphal-Dimapur National Highway (NH-2).
The official said that Manipur Chief Secretary Puneet Kumar Goel, in a letter to UNC President Ng. Lorho requested to withdraw their agitation in the larger public interest, and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) continued their discussion with the Naga bodies.
The Chief Secretary, in his letter to the UNC President, said: “MHA has been engaging with the UNC on the issue of fencing of the international border between India and Myanmar in Naga inhabited areas. The state government has also received your memoranda and representations on the subject matter.”
“It is to inform that the Central government noted the concerns raised by UNC and other stakeholders. Accordingly, the Central government has been holding and will continue to hold dialogue with the UNC and other stakeholders for prior consultation before fencing works are taken up. The next tripartite meeting with UNC will be held on a mutually convenient date and venue,” the letter said.
Meanwhile, officials of the MHA and leaders of three Naga groups in Manipur held an inconclusive meeting in Delhi on August 26 over the demand for reinstatement of the old FMR and stoppage of the ongoing fencing along the India-Myanmar border.
The MHA official team was led by A.K. Mishra, advisor to the MHA on Northeast Affairs, while the 11-member Naga delegation was headed by UNC President Ng. Lorho and comprised representatives of the UNC, the All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur (ANSAM), and the Naga Women’s Union (NWU).
The UNC had previously issued an ultimatum to the Central government and held a meeting with Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla on August 16, and discussed the reinstatement of the old FMR and the stoppage of border fencing along 398 km of the India-Myanmar border with Manipur.
The UNC and other Naga bodies have been agitating in support of their demands since last year, opposing the “unilateral abrogation of FMR and construction of border fencing along the India-Myanmar border”.
Due to the Trade Embargo and stoppage of goods-laden vehicles, the supply of essentials and foodgrains to this Northeastern state from outside the state has been badly affected since Monday. The blockade has disrupted supply chains to several parts of the state, affecting both the Imphal Valley and southern Kuki-dominated hill districts.
The Trade Embargo has significantly impacted Senapati, Ukhrul, and Tamenglong districts, with trucks carrying essential goods remaining stuck at various checkpoints. According to the Naga organisations, the government’s decision to fence the border and repeal the FMR would physically divide Naga tribes across Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, and Myanmar, threatening their cultural identity, traditional and ancestral ties.
The 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 passport and visa, would be scrapped. Instead, the MHA had decided 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 and Mizoram governments and a large number of political parties and civil societies in the two northeastern states have been strongly opposing both border fencing and the scrapping of the old 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 put up fencing on the entire porous border, known for the smuggling of arms, ammunition, narcotics and various other contrabands, for Rs 31,000 crore.
IANS