How smart fencing can check illegal immigration into Manipur from Myanmar

The Centre has decided to install smart fencing along the India-Myanmar border in Manipur, which is expected to boost the existing monitoring mechanisms. The latest annual report of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) mentions that a stretch of 100 kilometres of the border will be equipped with a smart fence, which is in addition to the barbed-wire fence of 10 kilometres that is being constructed along the border town of Moreh in the state. The report claims that the barbed wire fence will be completed within this year. The decision by the home ministry comes in the wake of allegations by Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh that the unrest in the state was the outcome of a conspiracy by Kuki militants from Myanmar and Bangladesh in collaboration with rebel groups operating in the state. The government has also begun capturing biometric details of illegal immigrants in the state from Myanmar. India shares a 1643 km border with Myanmar, out of which Manipur’s border is 398 km. A “free movement regime” (FMR) exists between the neighbours, which allows citizens from one country to travel up to 16 kilometres on the other side under certain conditions. Manipur suspended the FMR in 2020 following the COVID-19 pandemic. But communities speaking the same languages and sharing the same customs reside on both sides of the border. Smart fences are considered as an option in zones that have geographical barriers. Almost the entire stretch of the India-Myanmar border from Anjaw in Arunachal Pradesh to Lawngtlai in Mizoram is hilly, making surveillance an arduous task for the government. Manipur will be the second state in the Northeast to be equipped with a smart fence after Assam, where a project aimed at curbing illegal border crossings and criminal activities along the Indo-Bangla border in Dhubri district was launched in 2019. The scheme covers 61 km of the border where the Brahmaputra river enters Bangladesh. Monitoring the border is a challenging task in Dhubri for the Border Security Force (BSF), given the presence of numerous sandbars and riverine islands. Can smart fence curb illegal immigration? Some officers of the BSF who have first-hand knowledge about smart fences are of the unequivocal view that such a mechanism must be supported by other measures if results are to be achieved. “Smart fencing can serve the purpose of checking infiltration only up to about 50 per cent which was evidenced from our experience along Jammu’s border with Pakistan. The infiltrators were found to adopt tactics to overcome the barrier of smart fences. So additional measures are necessary along with smart fences,” said P K Mishra, former additional director general of BSF. Another middle-ranking officer of BSF currently serving in the Northeast pointed out that illegal immigrants are never dependent upon a single route or zone. He said that they cross the border after receiving the ‘green signal’ from their associates or relatives who had already settled in a secured location. The officer had interrogated some immigrants from Bangladesh who were apprehended in Tripura. The Centre has not specified the border zones in Manipur where the smart fence would be erected. The state has a total of five districts that share their border with Myanmar. An army officer who had served in the Assam Rifles about a decade ago is of the view that there are hotspots spanning the entire stretch of the border that witness the movement of contraband and militants of separatist outfits that have camps in the neighbouring country. “Erect smart fence in Churachandpur” Some functionaries engaged with civil society organisations in Imphal pointed out that the smart fence could yield better results if it is erected along the border in Churachandpur. Joychandra Konthoujam, president of United Committee Manipur, explained that Manipur would lose a large chunk of land if the fence were to be installed in the disputed zones in Tengnoupal. “The border zones in Tengnoupal from Pillars 76 to 110–111 are disputed. A huge area has been included in Myanmar, and the government has been apprised about the matter. So, this project cannot be supported in Tengnoupal till the dispute with Myanmar is resolved,” said Konthoujan. Border disputes with Myanmar had led to protests by local groups in Manipur. In 2013, several civil society organisations in Manipur threatened to launch an agitation if the government went ahead with the fencing project. The episode came on the heels of an attempt made by Myanmar soldiers to set up a temporary camp inside Indian territory near the border town of Moreh. Again, in 2018, at a place called Kwatha north of Moreh, local residents alleged that Myanmar had made attempts to change the boundary. The objective of the smart fence could be to check not only illegal immigration but also cross-border criminal activities, especially drug trafficking from Myanmar. Tonzang in Myanmar, which is contiguous to Churanchandpur, was identified as a zone by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) where poppy cultivation is thriving. There are widespread allegations that some rebel groups from Manipur are involved in illicit drug cultivation at Tonzang and some border zones in Manipur. The writer is a senior journalist in Guwahati. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost_’s views._ Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.