Lawngtlai DM lifts ban on cross-border movement with Myanmar

Aizawl: District magistrate of south Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district bordering Myanmar, Donny Lalruatsanga, on Wednesday lifted the order banning cross-border movement of people and vehicles through the Mizoram-Myanmar international border at Lawngtlai district section.Lalruatsanga had issued the order to seal the Myanmar border on Feb 16 last in view of a number of unwanted incidents due to trading activities along the border areas, including the death of an Indian inside Myanmar.The order banned entry of foreigners without valid travel documents and official permission. Besides banning entry of foreigners to Lawngtlai district, the order also bans crossing the international border from Lawngtlai district, engaging in business activities across the border and exporting goods by vehicles including vehicles from outside the district.The order to seal the border came close on the heels of the reported murder of a 37-year-old resident of Lawngtlai town after transporting goods to Salachhuah village in Paletwa township of southern Chin state in Myanmar. The body of Lalramsanga was found at a place between Salachhuah and Mizoram-Myanmar border river Chhimtuipui on Sunday afternoon.The incident created tension along the Mizoram-Myanmar border areas with the civil societies of Lawngtlai district even contacting the Arakan Army (AA), an insurgent group based in Rakhine state of Myanmar which is also operating in southern Chin state before Lalramsanga’s body was found.The district administration also had closed the Myanmar border during Dec last due to outbreak of cholera at Kakichhuah and surrounding villages suspected to spread by traders and drivers who were infected while in Paletwa township.