Border fence unnecessary, Mizoram authorities say

Thursday, 09 September 2010 17:53 Salai Tun

New Delhi (Mizzima) – A fence separating the “brothers” of the northeastern Indian state of Mizoram and Chin State in Burma is unnecessary, state authorities say, amid national government progress on such a barrier in neighbouring Manipur.

India’s government is building fences along the Indo-Burmese border with the goal of plugging holes in a porous frontier through which fleeing separatist rebels are often able to elude its security forces. When construction commenced, the ruling Congress Party in Mizoram said border fences were however not needed in the state.

“They [Burmese] are friendly with us. They are like brothers. So, we don’t need to build border fences in Mizoram,” state Commerce Minister Lalrinliana Sailo told Mizzima.

The state’s Congress Party chief spokesman, P. C. Lalruata, told Mizzima: “There is no need to build Mizoram-Burma border fences. But, I don’t know how the [national] government will decide … we don’t have the right to oppose its [Delhi’s] decision.”

Major General C. A. Krishanan, Inspector General of the Assam Rifles (South), a paramilitary wing of the army that enforces border security and conducts counter-insurgency operations, told The Hindu national daily newspaper yesterday that the goal of the border fencing in Manipur was to help the state and security forces “check the free movement of rebels and their new recruits to their base camps in [the] no-man’s-land”, between the countries.

The newspaper reported that the fencing work along a five-mile (eight-kilometre) stretch of the Manipur-Sagaing Division border was progressing satisfactorily. Manipur shares a 219-mile (352-kilometre) boundary with Burma.

The Indian central government’s objective of building such fencing in Manipur would also be to reduce drug-related crimes, Lalruata told Mizzima. Burma and India agreed to repel rebels from their respective sides of the border during then-Senior General Than Shwe’s visit in July. Lalruata said construction of the fencing may be related to that agreement, but that there were very few rebels in his state.

Mizzima contacted the Assam Rifles office in Manipur seeking details on the progress of the fence, but staff said spokesmen were unavailable.

India’s Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram states are adjacent to Burma’s Arakan, Chin and Kachin states and Sagaing Division along a 1,020-mile (1,643-kilometre) border.

Meanwhile, India from last month had at Burma’s request reduced the width of the no-man’s-land on its side of the frontier from 40 kilometres (25 miles) to 16 kilometres (10 miles).