Thousands of Nagas rally against fencing of Indo-Myanmar border

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• Naga leaders and speakers at public rally in Ukhrul, Manipur.
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• KOHIMA — Thousands of Nagas from different states came together at Ukhrul in Manipur on Wednesday to participate in a mass rally against the scrapping of Free Movement Regiment (FMR) and the consequential fencing of Indo-Myanmar by the government of India.
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• The mass rally, held under the aegis of United Naga Council (UNC), was organised by Tangkhul Naga Long (TNL) and Tangkhul Frontal Organisation. It began at Dungrei junction and Kharason junction and gathered at Ukhrul headquarters, where a programme was held.

• Tangkhul Naga community protesting against border fencing and demand for restoration of free movement regime held in Ukhrul on Wednesday.
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• Professor Rosemary Dzüvichü, co-convenor of Global Naga Forum (GNF), reminded the choice before Naga people is stark: “Whether we rise in resolute defiance to reclaim our dignity, or we are swallowed whole by the deceitful machinations of a foreign state that has long sought to erase our identity, to break our spirit, and to keep us enslaved within the iron grip of occupation.”

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• Scrapping of FMR is the final betrayal of Naga sovereignty, she maintained.
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• Dzüvichü said that for generations, the FMR has stood as a fragile bridge between the divided Naga people across the international borders.
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• “It was not a privilege granted by India but a necessity—a right for the Naga people, who have lived, traded, and moved freely across these lands long before the artificial lines of colonisers divided us,” she said, adding that the scrapping of FMR is not about national security or controlling illegal migration as New Delhi claims but a deliberate act to suffocate the Naga people.
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• “It is a colonial relic disguised as a policy decision—a blatant move to fortify India’s military presence and to ensure that Nagas remain prisoners in our own homeland,” she said.
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• According to her, the Centre is suddenly desperate to shut down even the limited movement of Nagas across the border because of the “crumbling Indian state that sees the Northeast, particularly Naga lands, as little more than a strategic military outpost.”
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• She maintained that the promise of an Act East Policy was never about economic opportunities for the people of the Northeast but it was always a militarised policy meant to expand Indian military logistics, allowing convoys of armed trucks and artillery to move freely while economic goods and trade remain stifled.
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• New era of surveillance
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• “As if physical barriers weren’t enough, we are being subjected to digital chains—biometric data collection at our borders and fencing that seeks to turn our homeland into an open-air prison,” she said.
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• Dzüvichü maintained that imposition of biometric data entry at the border areas by the Assam Rifles is yet another insidious mechanism of surveillance, control, and long-term demographic engineering.
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• “Under the guise of security, this system does not protect the Naga people, but it marks us, tracks us, and reduces us to data points in a colonial ledger,” she said. The “aggressive push for border fencing” has made it clear that the Centre seeks “not only to divide us physically but to erase the very idea of a borderless Naga homeland,” she added.
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• “We must reject these measures with absolute clarity, for they are the tools of an occupying force seeking to normalise its rule over our ancestral lands,” she asserted.
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• According to her, if India does not recognise the humanity of the Nagas, then it is time for the Nagas to remind the Centre of their (Naga) strength.
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• “You will never scrap the Naga people’s spirit. Your military cannot crush our will. Your economic blockade cannot silence our voice. Your laws, your borders, your dictates—none of them hold power over a people who refuse to be broken,” she maintained.
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• Dzüvichü said if New Delhi believes that “shutting down our movement will make us forget who we are, then they have underestimated the fire that burns in the heart of every Naga.”
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• Respect people’s sentiment
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• Neingulo Krome, secretary general of Naga People’s Movement for Human Rights (NPMHR), asserted that the Centre “must respect people’s sentiment.”
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• He stated that despite the massive rally, if the government of India cannot recognise and respect Naga people’s sentiment, then the people would be compelled to go beyond, “and if people go beyond the highest level of democratic expression, then it becomes out of control.”
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• In that eventuality, the Centre would be held responsible, he said.
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• Krome asserted that Nagas do not need anybody’s permission to move about. He said that the GoI keeps on saying one thing and doing another thing. “GoI is showing unworthiness on so many occasions,” he said.
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• ‘Halt fencing in Naga areas’
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• Ng Lorho, president of United Naga Council (UNC), maintained that they will not allow any further fencing activities in Naga areas.
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• He said that the council has repeatedly urged the Centre and Manipur government to halt fencing activities in Naga areas and warned they’d be held responsible in the event of any unwanted eventualities arising out of the issue.
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• “There comes a point when endurance reaches its limit and when silence is no longer an option,” he said.
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• Lorho recalled that India’s refusal to recognise the demands of the Nagas had led to an armed struggle, and the conflict remains unresolved till today. He also reminded that the bilateral agreements made between India and Myanmar, which had delimitated and demarcated the Naga areas by drawing artificial imaginary lines, were done without the informed consent of the Naga villages.
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• “The GOI’s proposed imaginary border fencing in the middle of Naga areas, ignoring the Naga traditional boundary with Myanmar, is not acceptable. If at all necessary, why not fence the border along the original Naga traditional boundary with Myanmar?” he questioned.
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• He asserted that scrapping the FMR and enforcing the border fencing is not just a policy shift but a direct attack on the rights and dignity of the Nagas.
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• He appealed to the Naga communities to join hands together and move towards the common goal by rising above self-interests, tribalism and factionalism.