Apex Manipur Naga body announces trade embargo from September 8

The United Naga Council (UNC), the apex body of Manipur’s Naga communities, has announced a “trade embargo” from September 8 midnight to protest the Centre’s “indifferent attitude” to its repeated pleas against scrapping the Free Movement Regime (FMR) and fencing the India-Myanmar border.

The FMR, an agreement between India and Myanmar, allows the border residents of both countries to travel within a specified distance from the 1,643 km boundary line. This distance was reduced from 16 km to 10 km a few months ago.

In a statement on Wednesday (September 3, 2025), the UNC said the decision to restrict trade and transportation of goods in all Naga-inhabited areas follows a resolution adopted during its presidential council meeting held on August 11. The embargo is expected to hit the movement of trucks on National Highway 2 and National Highway 37, Manipur’s lifelines that pass through Naga areas first before touching the Imphal Valley.

The UNC stated that the Naga people “placed their sentiments and position loud and clear” to the Centre about the “unilateral abrogation of the FMR and imposed border fencing construction” through the “Naga homeland”. It lamented that the Centre had ignored a series of protests, public rallies, and memorandums against the twin decision since January 2024.

The Nagas living in India (Manipur, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh) argue that the India-Myanmar border was imposed upon them, separating them from their brethren in Myanmar. Large swathes of Myanmar, especially the Sagaing Division, are inhabited by Nagas.