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Manipur: United Naga Council to impose ‘trade embargo’ in Naga areas from midnight
UNC said the trade embargo was the beginning of the Naga peoples’ non-cooperation movement that will be relentlessly followed
IMPHAL: The United Naga Council (UNC), the apex body of Naga tribes in Manipur, said it will impose a “trade embargo in Naga areas” starting September 8 midnight to protest the government’s decision on fencing the India-Myanmar border and the scrapping of the free movement regime (FMR) with the neighbouring country.
The decision follows the breakdown of talks between Naga organisations led by UNC and central government representatives in New Delhi on August 26 over the FMR and the ongoing border fencing along the Indo-Myanmar frontier.
“The trade embargo is the beginning of the Naga peoples’ non-cooperation movement that will be relentlessly followed by many such actions until our grievances are addressed satisfactorily,” UNC said in a statement on Monday.
In its statement on February 6 last year, the Naga body cited a decision by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to fence the 1,643 km-long border between India and Myanmar. The Cabinet Committee on Security was reported to have cleared the ₹31,000 crore project in March 2024.
The Naga body is concerned that when this project materialises, more than 1,000 km of the “Naga homeland” along Manipur, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh will be physically bifurcated, severing all ties with the Nagas of Myanmar in the east.
The FMR was introduced in 1950 and further restructured in 1968, allowing cross-border movement without visas within 40 km. This limit was reduced to 16 km in 2004 and then further reduced to 10 km of the unfenced international border. However, FMR was entirely suspended in February 2024, said the statement.
During the August 26 talks between UNC and Centre in Delhi, authorities underlined that the decisions were taken to control illegal immigration, smuggling of drugs and proliferation of firearms across the international border.
UNC, however, accused New Delhi of disregarding the traditional land rights of the Nagas, with fencing work already underway in the Tengnoupal district of Manipur.
The Naga apex body later also rejected the government’s decision saying the boundary between the two countries was “arbitrarily demarcated without the consent of Nagas”.
“There is no land boundary line between India and Myanmar within the Naga homeland. Nagas will not accept any land alienation policy whatsoever,” the statement said.
The Naga body has demanded that free, prior and informed consent of the Naga people must be obtained for any project affecting the Nagas and their land. No imposition of movement restrictions along the so-called international Indo-Myanmar border. Also, the government should put an end to detention, harassment and surveillance activities along the imaginary border areas within the Naga homeland, and scrap the border fencing project.
UNC said the trade Embargo imposed by the Nagas this time would impact everyone and may inconvenience people. “However, this democratic and non-violent form of agitation is the expressed desire of the aggrieved Naga people and that we hope will eventually yield the desired result in good time,” the statement said.
Various Naga bodies including Naga People’s Organisation (NPO), Senapati District Women Association (SDWA), Senapati District Students’ Association (SDSA), Chandel Naga People’s Organisation, Joint tribes council Manipur (apex body of Inpui, Liangmei, Rongmei and Zeme), Tangkhul Naga Long issued endorsement statements supporting the agitation of United Naga Council.
