FMR abolition will shatter fragile peace in NE: RPP

January 28, 2024 13 Views No Comment

Appeals for prayer

DIMAPUR, JANUARY 28 (MExN): The Rising People’s Party (RPP)on Saturday said the Government of India’s decision to scrap the Free Movement Regime (FMR) and erect security fencing along the 1643 km long international corridor in the North-East has shocked the tribal peoples of Nagaland, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.

This decision has deeply hurt the sentiments of the tribals in the region for it means the erasure of our history and our shared past, the RPP stated in a press release on Saturday.

Revisiting history, the RPP recalled that the British first divided the territory of the Nagas and Mizo-Chinsin the early part of the 20thcentury into British-Assam and British-Burma for ‘administrative reasons.’

But when the province of Burma was detached from British India in 1937, the ethnic identities of Nagas and Mizo-Chin peoples of Burma were lost foreverto the dominion of Burmans, the majority ethnic group of Burma, the RPP claimed while adding that the “insensitivity of the British has never been forgotten and yet, today, the BJP government of India is rubbing salt into old wounds.”

Sounding caution that the decision on FMR if implemented “will shatter the fragile peace in the region,” the RPP lamented that instead of working towards a lasting solution in the North-East, the GoI seems to be pursuing a confrontational policy.

It said the GoI’s fatal decision on FMR will be a call to insurrection in the North-East – already reeling from the ethnic conflict in Manipur – eventually leading to Balkanization/break-up of India adding,“Our shared history with our kins in Burma cannot be erased with security fencing, and it’s important that India’s leaders listen to us with compassion.”

“The time has come for the Nagas and the Zo peoples to come together for a common cause, to stand up against powers bend on erasure of our history,” the RPP said as it “appealed to all the Nagas and the Zo-Kuki-Chin family – and all the Churches, to fervently pray unceasingly that our Lord may grant wisdom to our Indian leaders, and for the two peoples to rise up as one in tackling an issue having ramifications for our existence as a people with shared history and identity.”