Naga tribal chief urges Centre to scrap decision to fence Indo-Myanmar border

Longwa On Sunday, a tribal chief in the Mon district of Nagaland urged the Center to revoke the Indo-Myanmar border fence and shrink the Free Movement Regime's territory. Tonyei Phawang, a 49-year-old Chief of Angh, asserted that the Konyak Naga tribes are the ones who live on both sides of the border in Mon district and that they are interdependent since they have relatives on both sides.

"We do not want fencing of the Indo-Myanmar border," Phawang, the tenth generation Angh chief, told PTI in Mon district's Longwa village. According to him, he is in charge of 35 settlements, 30 of which are on the opposite side of the international boundary and five of which are on this side.

"My own house which was originally constructed centuries ago with traditional thatch structure but reconstructed into a concrete structure at the original location in 2016 has been split into India and Myanmar by the boundary post India's independence," he continued.