India to tighten security along Myanmar border

Aizawl: India will intensify security along the border with Myanmar to check the movement of militants and diverse border crimes, an officer of the Assam Rifles said Tuesday as its chief began a three day trip to Mizoram to review security arrangements.

Four northeastern states – Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram – share with Myanmar a 1,640 km border that is manned by the paramilitary Assam Rifles. The dense forests make the border porous and vulnerable.

“Assam Rifles Director General Lieutenant General Rameshwar Roy is now on a three-day visit of Mizoram to review the security arrangements along the Indo-Myanmar border,” an Assam Rifles spokesperson told reporters here.

He said Roy would visit some border areas to check the vigil mounted along the border area.

“Roy would review the overall security situation of the northeastern state and the arrangements for guarding the border…,” the spokesperson added.

The Assam Rifles director general, who reached Aizawl Monday, met Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla and Governor Vakkom B. Purushothaman and discussed security matters.

“The history of Mizoram is intimately linked with the history of Assam Rifles, who have been the ‘Friends of the Hill People’ for 176 years,” an official release of the paramilitary force said.

India has decided to strengthen security along the border with Myanmar following reports of militants taking shelter in that country after the Bangladesh government’s crackdown against various outfits from northeastern states, officials said.

Sandwiched between Myanmar in the east and south and Bangladesh in the west, Mizoram has a 722-km international boundary of which it shares 404 km with Myanmar and 318 km with Bangladesh. Most parts of the borders are in hilly terrain, remain unfenced and are porous.