Aizawl: The Zo Re-Unification Organization (ZORO) has announced plans to stage demonstrations across Mizoram on January 29 against the scrapping of the Free Movement Regime (FMR) and the introduction of a new border pass system along the Indo-Myanmar border.
The organization, which represents ethnic Zo or Mizo tribes spanning India, Myanmar, and Bangladesh, has been calling for the revocation of a recent order by the Centre that mandates a border pass for residents living within 10 km of the India-Myanmar border.
ZORO General Secretary L. Ramdinliana Renthlei said the organization recently held a meeting under the chairmanship of its president R Sangkawia and discussed a wide range of issues, including the scrapping of the FMR, fencing of the Indo-Myanmar border and deportation of Bangladeshi refugees from Mizoram.
The meeting resolved to organize demonstrations in Aizawl and other parts of Mizoram. During these protests, copies of both the central and state government notifications—concerning the scrapping of the Foreigners’ Registration Manual (FRM) and the implementation of a border pass system along the Mizoram-Myanmar border—will be publicly burned.
ZORO President R Sangkawia earlier said that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had recently replaced the FMR with a new system aimed at regulating movement across the border.
The new system, which came into effect on January 1, 2025, requires individuals living within the 10 km border zone to obtain a border pass in order to cross into the neighbouring country.
The MHA’s decision to end the FMR was officially made in February 2024, to bolster national security and safeguard the demographic integrity of India’s northeastern states bordering Myanmar.
Under the new guidelines, individuals within the 10 km radius on either side of the India-Myanmar border must now apply for a border pass to travel across the border.
Sangkawia said that in its letter communicated to the Mizoram chief secretary about the new system on December 24 last year, the MHA said that entry would be regulated from 18 entry/exit points along the Mizoram-Myanmar border.
While Zokhawthar and Hnahlan cross points in east Mizoram’s Champhai district will be implemented as pilot sites, 3 crossing points in Lawngtlai district will be set up under phase-I and another 13 points in all the six districts, which share a border with Myanmar, will be set up under phase-II, the MHA said in the letter.
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An individual seeking the border pass must produce a document or certificate to prove that he or she lives within a 10-km radius of the borders, he said.
Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), the state’s apex student body, also said that it would write to the Centre over the alleged scrapping of the FMR.
