Cross-border movement of insurgents is only one of the several security challenges facing the policing of…

Question

Cross-border movement of insurgents is only one of the several security challenges facing the policing of the border in North-East India. Examine the various challenges currently emanating across the India-Myanmar border. Also, discuss the steps to counter the challenges.

Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

Across the India-Myanmar border, insurgent sanctuaries, Golden Triangle narcotics, misuse of the Free Movement Regime and refugee inflows after the 2021 coup form one nexus. India counters it through Assam Rifles guarding, full fencing with a 10 km pass system, joint operations like Operation Sunrise and counter-narcotics coordination.

**Introduction**

The 1,643 km India-Myanmar border runs through four north-eastern states across forested hills. Beyond insurgents, it now carries drugs, arms and refugees, made worse by the 2021 coup and the fighting in Chin and Rakhine.

**Challenges Emanating Across the India-Myanmar Border**

1. **Insurgent sanctuaries**: NSCN (K), ULFA (I) and the PLA have used camps in Sagaing, from which the Chandel ambush (2015) killed 18 soldiers.
2. **Golden Triangle narcotics**: Myanmar had about 47,000 ha under poppy in 2023 (UNODC), and heroin and methamphetamine via Moreh and Champhai fund insurgents.

SKETCH: flow | Narco-Insurgency Nexus
- Poppy in Myanmar
- Drugs via Moreh, Champhai
- Cash to insurgents
- Arms purchase
- Violence in Manipur

3. **Free movement as cover**: The visa-free 16 km Free Movement Regime and unfenced hills became a channel for arms, gold and fighters.
4. **Refugees and spillover**: India hosts over 95,600 people displaced by the 2021 coup (UNHCR, 2025), straining ethnic relations in Mizoram and Manipur.

**Steps to Counter the Challenges**

1. **Fencing and pass system**: The Assam Rifles guards the border, and since 2024 the Ministry of Home Affairs is fencing all 1,643 km and has cut the free-movement radius to 10 km.
2. **Joint operations**: Operation Sunrise (2019) saw both armies act against insurgent camps.
3. **Counter-narcotics**: NCORD links drug agencies; the DRI alone seized over 231 kg of methamphetamine tablets in the North-East in 2024-25 (PIB, 2025).
4. **Regulated trade**: The Moreh Integrated Check Post and the Trilateral Highway channel movement into lawful routes.

**Way Forward**

Tribal councils should shape the pass system, smart surveillance should cover unfenced hills, and crop substitution should shrink poppy and recruitment alike.

**Conclusion**

A fence with a humane pass system, joint operations and prosperous border communities would turn this frontier into the gateway of Act East.

Cross-border movement of insurgents is only one of the several security challenges facing the policing of the border in North-East India. Examine the various challenges currently emanating across the India-Myanmar border. Also, discuss the steps to counter the challenges.

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