- The Union Home Ministry is considering the creation of a 29-battalion ‘India-Myanmar Border Force’ (IMBF). It would be created from the corps of the Assam Rifles and the Indo-Tibetan Border Force to patrol India’s 1,643-km long mountainous border with Myanmar.
- According to the proposal 25 battalions of Assam Rifles will be paired with 4 battalions from ITBP to form the new force. The ITBP will be in charge. This will ensure that ITBP not only patrols the 3,488-km Line of Actual Control with China but also the border with Myanmar.
- The main objectives behind creating this force are, to curtail drugs and arms smuggling and also crimp the activities of Manipuri and Naga insurgents who take advantage of the porous border.
- The proposed force will patrol right up to the Myanmar border. Currently, the 46-battalion strong Assam Rifles safeguards this border but patrols up to 500 meters from the so-called ‘zero line’, which leaves the border partly porous.
Indo-Myanmar boarder:
- India shares a 1643 km long border with Myanmar. Out of which 171 km is not demarcated.
- Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland share the border with Myanmar.
- There is a Govijang village in Manipur which is situated in the zero line. A road in the middle of the village divides two nation.
