Several Naga organisations have issued a 20-day ultimatum to the Union Government against the abrogation of the Free Movement Regime (FMR) along the India-Myanmar Border. The organisations also opposed the fencing of the border between the two countries. The statement was issued from Imphal in Manipur on Tuesday.
The United Naga Council (UNC), Naga Women Union (NWU), All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur (ANSAM), and the Naga People’s Movement for Human Rights-South (NPMHR-S) are the organisations that have issued the statement.
The statement says that the abrogation of the FMR and border fencing violate the rights of the Naga communities along both sides of the international border.
The organisations said, “We submit this ultimatum with deep concern and anguish, expressing our strong resentment against abrogation of the Free Movement Regime (FMR) along the imaginary Indo-Myanmar border and the accelerated ongoing border fencing construction across the ancestral Naga homeland without due consultation with the affected indigenous communities and violating the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), particularly Articles 8, 26, and 36 thereof, endorsed by India.”
The statement warned that “Should the above demands remain unaddressed from the date of this ultimatum, we shall be compelled to resume our protest movement in stronger measure across all the Naga hill districts.” The Naga organisations also said that “picketing of government offices in Naga- inhabited areas have been undertaken along with protest rallies in Naga inhabited hill districts.”
