A village divided between two countries

While the Constitution of India does not allow dual citizenship, but the people in Longwa village on India-Myanmar border see themselves as belonging to both countries and also vote in the elections of both countries

Longwa: Longwa in Nagaland is a typical hilltop village on the border between India and Myanmar where the most imposing structure is perhaps a corrugated tin roof belonging to the village’s Konyak tribe’s chief. The national boundaries never mattered before for the local Konyak tribe, as the people here ‘eat in Myanmar and sleep in India.’

But now, the residents are worried about this less visible, local landmark — the border between India and Myanmar, which runs right through the village’s center. The Indian government stopped border crossings last year, revoking a system that made it legal for Indigenous people to cross freely. Soon a border fence would cut villages like Longwa in two.

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Until last year, Longwa’s marketplace was bustling with shoppers from the Myanmar side, motorbikes loaded with as much salt, flour, biscuits, clothes, milk, tea, soap etc. The children from the other side were studying in the boarding schools on Indian side and returning home in Myanmar during vacations

The Constitution of India does not allow dual citizenship, but people in Longwa see themselves as belonging to both countries. The tribal chief here is head of six Konyak villages in India and more than 30 in Myanmar. These tribal people vote in Myanmar as well in Indian elections. People here often have documents from both governments. Until recently, residents from both sides could travel legally within 16 km of the border.

When the government revoked the Free Movement Regime to ensure the internal security of the country and maintain the demographic structure of India’s North Eastern States bordering Myanmar, things started changing for these tribes.

Naga villages are usually built on hilltops for security, something that wasn’t considered when the British East India Company drew the border in an agreement with the then Kingdom of Burma.

While India has decided to construct a fence along the entire 1,643 km long Indo-Myanmar border, the fence will cut through dozens of buildings in the village, including a government school, the church and an army camp.

NGOs working with tribes say, any effort to stop locals from crossing the border could violate the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People, which seeks to protect the integrity of border-straddling communities, because for them there is no Burma Longwa or India Longwa.