Itanagar, Feb 8 (PTI) Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu has welcomed the Centre's decision to junk the Free Movement Regime (FMR) between India and Myanmar.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said the Centre has decided to scrap the India-Myanmar Free Movement Regime (FMR) to maintain the country's internal security and demographic structure of the northeastern states.

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As the Ministry of External Affairs is currently in the process of scrapping it, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has recommended the immediate suspension of FMR, Shah said.

FMR allows people residing close to the India-Myanmar border to venture 16 km into each other's territory without any documents.

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The 1,643-km-long India-Myanmar border, which passes through Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, currently has FMR. It was introduced in 2018 as part of India's Act East policy.

"Gratitude to Hon PM, Shri @narendramodi Ji & Hon Home Min, Shri @AmitShah Ji, for their steadfast commitment to safeguard our borders. The decision to revoke Free Movement Regime (FMR) between India & Myanmar holds immense significance for our internal security and demographic integrity of the North Eastern States," Khandu wrote on X.

This landmark decision signifies yet another important step in the ongoing efforts to address illegal immigration. This builds on the recent announcement by the Centre to fence the 1,643 km Indo-Myanmar border, Khandu said in another social media post.

The porous border gives easy access to NE insurgent groups staying in Myanmar to carry out unsocial activities in the three eastern districts of the state – Tirap, Changlang and Longding.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)