India has not shifted pillars demarcating the international border with Myanmar, the External Affairs Ministry said here on Sunday.
The statement came after media reports suggested that India had given up land to Myanmar while carrying out a survey.
“We have come across media reports stating that certain boundary pillars in the Manipur sector of the India-Myanmar international boundary have been allegedly shifted. These reports are completely baseless and unsubstantiated. This sector of the international boundary is settled and there is no confusion as to its alignment,” the official spokesperson of the Ministry said.
The Hindu had reported earlier that Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh had said that the border survey with Myanmar had not led to surrender of Indian territory to Nay Pyi Taw. The spokesperson explained that bilateral border surveys were conducted in keeping with the India-Myanmar Boundary Agreement of 1967.
Routine survey
“Recently, routine survey work has been carried out jointly by the Indian and Myanmar survey departments during which work on construction of subsidiary pillars in between already settled main boundary pillars 81 and 82 along zero line, that is, agreed and settled international boundary, has also been undertaken. This has been done with the objective of apprising the local residents on both sides of the border of the exact alignment of the international boundary,” the spokesperson said. Some reports had suggested that India surrendered tracts of land to Myanmar to please the country’s pro-China government. But both the Chief Minister of Manipur and the External Affairs Ministry denied the same.