ProMASS: Jan 20, 2017: It may sound little awkward, but Nagaland Chief Minister, T.R. Zeliang is against of erecting Indo-Myanmar border fencing. In fact, he has urged the Centre to ask Myanmar to stop border fencing in the Noklak area of Tuensang district in the state as it will adversely affect free movement of the people as well as the traditional land-holding system prevailing in the area. Notably, few months earlier while attending a FICCI sponsored programme in Agartala, Zeliang raised this issue and explained Indo-Myanmar border along Nagaland is somewhat different from other International borders. He said, cultural tradition of Naga people will be hampered if people are being prevented from moving freely along the border.
A statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office in Kohima yesterday said that Mr Zeliang took up the issue with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and pointed out that the people of Noklak stood to lose some 3,500 acres of land which they had been cultivating for generations. He pointed out that unlike the India-Pakistan border region, people of the area have been living peacefully together for long. Moreover, he said that fencing of boundaries would also defeat the objective of Act East policy to improve trade and communications across the Indo-Myanmar border. The Union Home Minister told the chief minister that the MHA had written to the Ministry of External Affairs to take up the issue with Myanmar and ask it not to proceed with border fencing on its side.
