Aizawl, Feb 5 (PTI) The Mizoram Cabinet has reiterated its opposition to the Centre’s plan to fence the Indo-Myanmar border, while acknowledging that it has no legal authority to block the move, an official said.
A meeting of the council of ministers, chaired by Chief Minister Lalduhoma, on Wednesday reaffirmed the state government’s stand against erecting a fence along the 510-km-long Mizoram sector of the international border.
“The cabinet maintains that the state government stands by its original position. However, as border fencing is a Union subject, the state government does not have the power to oppose it,” the official said.
The cabinet’s reiteration follows a resolution adopted unanimously by the Mizoram Assembly in February last year opposing the Centre’s proposal to fence the border and scrap the Free Movement Regime (FMR) with Myanmar.
The state government’s cautious stance comes amid mounting pressure from influential civil society organisations.
On January 16, the state apex students’ body, Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), and the Zo Reunification Organisation (ZORO), which represents the Chin-Kuki-Mizo people across the globe, submitted a joint memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirming their opposition to the Centre’s plan to fence the Indo-Myanmar border.
They warned that a fence would cause deep physical and psychological separation between ethnic Mizo communities living on either side of the border.
Moreover, leaders of Central Young Mizo Association (CYMA) also reiterated their opposition to the Centre’s plan during a meeting with Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan in New Delhi in January.
Six Mizoram districts share a 510-km long border with Myanmar’s Chin state, and the Mizos share ethnic ties with the Chins.
More than 30,000 people from Chin state displaced by the military coup in 2021 are currently sheltered in Mizoram. PTI CORR MNB
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