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DIMAPUR — The Ex-Parliamentarians Association of Nagaland (Ex-PAN) has unanimously resolved to oppose the decision of the Government of India (GoI) to discontinue the Free Movement Regime (FMR) and construction of border fence.
The resolution to this effect was taken during its executive council meeting held on March 9. It stated that the decision of GoI to put an end to the FMR, which allows citizens of both India and Myanmar to freely access areas within 16 km of the border on both sides, was highly objectionable and questionable.
It stated that the Naga people had never been divided by any ‘borders or boundaries’ except the traditional boundaries between villages since time immemorial till the advent of the Britishers who, for convenience of administration, had demarcated the existing border between India and Myanmar, thus dividing villages, families and tribes.
It added that the founding fathers and leaders of India and Myanmar, having the foresight of the importance for the people living on both sides of the border to continue to have access to one another, decided to enact the FMR, allowing people from both sides access to 16 km on both sides of the border without the need of any documents.
Ex-PAN was of the view that the ongoing ethnic upheaval in Manipur between the Kuki-Zo and the Meitei communities and the vast smuggling of illegal drugs and weapons as reasons to construct border fencing and put an end to the FMR was akin to constructing the Berlin Wall in Germany after World War-II. It added that the decision of GoI was a gross violation of human rights as it will be dividing the people who share not only a common custom and tradition but also a common lineage that dates back centuries and generations.
The Association has also taken strong exception to Assam Healing (Prevention of Evil) Practices Bill 2024 and called upon the Government of India to put an end to such legislations targeted towards religious discriminations.
It maintained that India was founded on the very principles of a sovereign, socialist, secular and democratic republic as firmly established in the preamble of the constitution of India on which the Union government and the government of the constituent states and union territories function in accordance to the provisions set in the constitution.
“If miracle healings are considered an ‘evil practice’ because it does not conform to medical science, then even Ayurvedic and Yogic treatments must also fall in the same category as they too are not related to medical science,” the association argued.
It was of the opinion that if the government of Assam headed by BJP was determined to challenge and curb the activities of religious minorities, it must and should be done with the parameters of the constitution of India, if any.
However, so long as the laws and articles protecting the freedom of religion exists, that association stated that the government of Assam or any government do not have the authority or power to enact any law in contravention to the laid down provisions of the constitution of India.