India to build fence on border with Myanmar to stop refugees

INDIA plans to build a £2.9billion fence along its border with Myanmar to clamp down on smuggling and prevent refugees fleeing the civil war there from crossing into its northern territories.

The move to fence the porous, 1,000-mile-long border involves the four north-eastern Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram.

A government committee earlier this month approved the cost for the fencing, which needs to be approved by the cabinet of Narendra Modi, the prime minister, Reuters reported.

Amit Shah, India’s home affairs minister, last month said that his government had decided to scrap the free movement regime along the Myanmar border to “ensure the internal security of the country and to maintain the demographic structure of India’s north-eastern states”. Mr Shah recommended the immediate suspension of the regime, which since 2018 has allowed residents of both countries living along the border to travel up to 10 miles into each other’s territory without a visa.

The border fence plan comes amid a worsening civil conflict in Myanmar as well as ethnic violence in India’s Manipur, where 219 people have been killed since May last year.

Myanmar is ruled by the military junta which, in February 2021, ousted the democratically elected government. The coup led to an armed uprising against the military rulers.

Last year, three ethnic armed groups formed a successful alliance against the military junta, leading to the latter losing control of vast areas, including some along the border with China and India.

Since the coup, an estimated two million people have been displaced in the fighting, according to the UN.