mizo-students-urge-centre-to-reconsider-border-fencing-issues

The apex Mizo students’ body, Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), has submitted a memorandum to Union home minister Amit Shah through Mizoram governor Vijay Kumar Singh, expressing strong opposition to the termination of the Free Movement Regime (FMR) and the proposed fencing of the Indo-Myanmar border.

In their memorandum, the MZP urged the Union government to reconsider these decisions, citing concerns over the impact on indigenous communities.

 

“Such measures would infringe upon our rights and disrupt the cultural and economic foundations of our lives,” the memorandum stated.Assam food

The students’ body highlighted that the decision to terminate the FMR and build a border fence has alarmed Mizo cognate groups on both sides of the border.

 

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According to the MZP, the border demarcated during British rule arbitrarily divided Mizo communities in India and Myanmar, disrupting their unity. “Before colonial rule, no such borders existed, and our communities lived freely, sharing familial, cultural, and economic bonds,” the memorandum noted.

The MZP also emphasised the significance of ancestral and historical sites located in Myanmar’s Chin State, which further underscores the artificial and disruptive nature of the current border.

 

The MZP warned that terminating the FMR and proceeding with border fencing would sever these ties, depriving communities of cultural rights and access to critical resources.

 

“This decision disregards the geographical, historical and economic linkages that have transcended political boundaries for generations,” they said.

The students’ body also reminded the Indian government of its obligations under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), 2007. Article 36 of the declaration affirms the rights of indigenous peoples to maintain and develop cross-border relationships for cultural, economic, social, spiritual, and political purposes.

“It is disheartening to see India, as the world’s largest democracy, act contrary to these principles, undermining the rights of its indigenous people,” the MZP stated.

 

“These measures are detrimental to our collective efforts to reunify all our brothers and sisters separated by colonial-era borders,” the student leaders added.