By Rabindra Nath Sinha
KOLKATA: Fencing of the India-Myanmar border in trouble-torn Manipur remains a tough job for the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) as the task is not merely of demarcating the boundaries but also of thwarting the recurring challenges that the Indian security agencies face from insurgent movement, drug trafficking and illegal migration.
India shares a 1,643 km border with Myanmar and four north-eastern states – Arunachal, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram – co-share this long distance. The respective stretches measure 520 km, 215 km, 398 km and 510 km respectively. The over three-year-old ethnic strife in Manipur has added to the complications within Manipur because of break-down of law and order and outside its jurisdiction because of the political unrest that Myanmar witnessed since February 2021 when the military junta assumed control.
Gradually anti-junta forces also emerged on the scene, which also told on the security environment on the border. While this added to the responsibilities of the Indian security apparatus as far as the three main tasks of tackling insurgent movement, drug trafficking and illegal migration from across the border what has made the situation delicate for the Manipur government and New Delhi is the objection from Kuki outfits in Manipur against fencing of the border with Myanmar. They have been voicing concern over the exercise firmed up by the Union home ministry in association with all relevant civil and security agencies including the office of the Surveyor General of India.
The most recent objection has been raised by the Kuki Chiefs’ Association, Khengjoi subdivision of Chandel district. BRO has undertaken the job in Manipur, which is part of the Rs 31,000 crore programme for the entire 1,643 km border that covers the four north-eastern states. KCA in its letter dated June 25, 2026 to Manipur chief minister cited three particular boundary realignment activity which covers boundary pillars (BP) 65,66 and 67. BRO’s action, KCA has contended, ignores “ground position long recognised and occupied by our people and would have the effect of placing established Kuki villages, their dwelling houses and ancestral lands either on the boundary line or, in effect, beyond the fence”. The involved villages are: BP 65 – Molcham, Khengjang, BP 66 – Phaisenjang / Jangngoulen village and BP 67 – Khumkot. The proposed shifting of pillars and the consequent fence alignment threaten either to sever these villages or substantial portions of their residential and farming lands from the Indian side of the boundary.
“For our community, these lands are not merely property; they are ancestral homesteads, jhum and wet-rice fields, burial grounds and customary commons that constitute the very basis of livelihood and identity of the Kuki-Zopeope of this frontier. Any demarcation carried out ignoring the actual ground position would dispossess loyal Indian citizens of their homes and farms and render them refugees within or outside their own country”, KCA has argued. Border demarcation and fencing of such consequence cannot be undertaken in haste, within an artificial three-month timeframe.
In this context, it has pointed out that the 1980 proposal for these very BPs had contemplated acceptance of the existing ground positions ; but departures were introduced in the 2017 proposal which have serious consequences for “our villages” Villagers had no prior knowledge and representative outfits were not consulted. The exercise, it has been demanded, should not be carried forward, the problems listed should be examined on the spot by teams comprising district officials, village authority nominees and KCA.
The memorandum to the chief minister, signed by chairman T Seithang Haokip and general secretary Thangjamang Haokip reaffirms their “unflinching loyalty to the Union of India” and their “commitment to the security of the international border”. [Border fencing is also a sore point with the Nagas in the frontier areas of Manipur and Nagaland and they term New Delhi’s action as the British practice of separating communities]. Their organisations are for a halt to the programme and restoration of the free movement regime.
It s against this backdrop the tough stance of the Manipur government has to be viewed. Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh has on several occasions after he assumed office on February 4 this year strongly supported an expeditous border fencing action plan. Khemchand’s strong stance on the subject was evident on June 4 at the 73rd plenary session of the North Eastern Council at Shillong. He then called upon the Centre to act fast to secure the Manipur stretch of the border with Myanmar, describing the situation as one of the most pressing security and humanitarian challenges.
According to him, the ongoing civil conflict in Myanmar had triggered a significant influx of people into Manipur’s border district, placing enormous pressure on local resources, altering the demographic balance and creating serious administrative and law enforcement challenges. The porous international border continues to be misused and exploited by transnational criminal networks, drug traffickers, arms smugglers and groups engaged in human trafficking. Apart from fencing, there has to be controlled border crossings, updated surveillance infrastructure, increase in border outposts and improved road linkage. He also pleaded for a coordinated border area development package.
For BRO and the entire administrative-cum-security apparatus which includes about 10 Union and state government establishments, the task is just not to construct fencing and guard the fenced area, they also have to reconstruct fencing wrecked and cut off by miscreants. Between August and December 2025 such incidents had occurred in the Kuki-majority Chandel and Tengnoupal districts. Border pillars 67 and 68 were destroyed. An easy target of miscreants is Moreh, a crucial international border town and a commercial hub in Tengnoupal district, about 110 km from Imphal. Sitting on the India-Myanmar border, it connects via the Friendship Bridge to Tamu in Myanmar and serves as the entry point for India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway. In an incident near Moreh in August 2025, border pillar 77 was the target of saboteurs. (IPA Service)
