Manipur CM holds talks with BRO officials over plans to fence India-Myanmar border

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Sunday held a meeting with officials of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to discuss plans to erect fencing along a section of the India-Myanmar border.

The meeting comes a day after the CM told reporters that his government has urged the Union Home Ministry to cancel the free movement regime along the India-Myanmar border and complete its fencing.

The free movement regime allows people residing close to both sides of the India-Myanmar border to venture 16 km deep into each other's territory without any document.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the CM said: 'Held a meeting with the officials of BRO and deliberated the plan to begin construction of an additional 70 km of border fencing along the Indo-Myanmar border. I was joined by Chief Secretary, DGP & officials from the Home Department.' 'In view of the rise in illegal immigration and drugs smuggling from the neighbouring country, safeguarding our porous borders has become an urgent necessity,' Singh added.

Manipur shares a 398-km-long border with Myanmar, of which only around 6 km is fenced, sources said.

More than 175 people have been killed and several hundreds injured since ethnic violence broke out in Manipur on May 3, when a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the majority Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe status.

Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal valley, while tribals, including Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside mostly in the hill districts.

There are allegations that illegal immigrants from Myanmar were behind the recent violence.

A Meitei organisation has also asserted that the over four-month-long strife is a manifestation of the tension over deforestation, illegal opium poppy cultivation and change in demography in certain areas of the state mainly caused by illegal immigrants from Myanmar.

It is alleged that firearms were supplied to militants in Manipur from Myanmar.