Aizawl:
Mizoram Chief Minister Lulduhoma said on Monday that his government was not opposing the Center’s decision to re-organize the protected area permit (PAP) in the state and regulate the movement on the Indo-Myanmar border amidst security concerns.
He said that Mizoram is being secretly used as a transit route by foreigners traveling to Myanmar, which has become a serious concern for the center.
During the question hour in the state assembly, Llduhoma said that around 2,000 foreigners visited Mizoram between June and December last year, and many of them did not come as tourists and the state did not pay any attention.
He alleged that some foreigners crossed the Indo-Myanmar border and entered Chin Hills in the neighboring country to provide military training there.
“In the current geo -policy, the situation of our neighboring country is being closely seen by various countries including China and the US. As this is the case, the status of Mizoram, used by foreigners as a transit route by foreigners, has become a serious concern for the center, which inspired the reconstruction of the permit of the protected area in the state,” the Chief Minister told the gathering.
He said that the protected area has been re -designed in other states, which can probably be used as transit routes by foreigners traveling to Myanmar.
Although the Mizoram government initially opposed the verdict, but later it understood the need for the permit seen by the Center, he said.
The whole of Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram, and parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand have been defined as preserved areas.
In 2011, the Center relaxed PAP from Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram to promote tourism and exempted all foreigners except Afghanistani, Pakistani and Chinese.
This rest was later extended for five years at a time, with the latest order issued in December 2022 and was valid until December 2027.
However, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) recently resumed the PAP in Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland to regulate foreigners’ agitation, amidst security concerns arising out of influx from neighboring countries.
The MHA informed the Chief Secretaries of the three North Eastern states – Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland – informed them about the decision to restore the protected area government (Par) or PAP, which took rest after 13 years.
Lulduhoma said that the state government felt the need to restrict the movement on the Indo-Myanmar border and agreed with the Center at the beginning of a new protocol to regulate the border movement under the free movement governance (FMR).
On 24 December last year, MHA announced a new protocol that reduced the FMR range from 16 km to 10 km.
Under the new guidelines, individuals crossing the border from India to Myanmar will be given a border passing, which is valid for seven days. The border pass will be issued to those who live on both sides of the border on the production of credit, which confirm their residence within the territorial border.
Although Union Home Minister Amit Shah earlier announced that the FMR would be abolished, an official notification has not been issued yet.
Lulduhoma said that there were some disadvantages in the untreated agitation under FMR and brought many social evils in the state such as drugs, weapons and other crimes, including smuggling, including murder, which has become a matter of serious concern for the state.
However, the state government was in favor of the free movement between the caste Mizos of the two countries, but when the Center did so, it felt the need to regulate the movement on the Indo-Myanmar border.
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