How Many Indian States Share Border With Myanmar?

The four northeast Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh (520 Km), Nagaland (215Km), Mizoram (510Km), and Manipur (398 Km) share a 1,643-kilometer border with Myanmar.

Because of the Sino-Indian boundary dispute, the location of the tripoint with China is unknown. The de facto tripoint is placed just north of the Diphu Pass. The boundary continues southwest through the Mishmi Hills, except for an Indian protrusion at Chaukan Pass, and then into the Patkai and Kassom Ranges. It curves strongly westward across different rivers in the southeast corner of Manipur before reaching the Tiau River. It then follows this river south for a considerable distance down to the Chin Hills before turning west and following a series of erratic routes to the Bangladeshi tripoint.

Historically, the border region was a disputed territory on the outskirts of successive Indian and Burmese empires. In the 17th century, Britain began invading India and ultimately acquired control of the majority of the nation, becoming British India. Britain gradually conquered Burma from the 1820s to the 1880s through the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826. Burma acknowledged British control over Assam, Manipur, Rakhine (Arakan), and the Tanintharyi coast, thereby delimiting much of the modern boundary. In 1834, the Kabaw Valley lands were restored to Burma, and a new border was established in this region, nicknamed the “Pemberton line” after a British commissioner and later revised in 1881.

The Patkai Hills were unilaterally assigned as the northern border in 1837. Following the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852- 53, large swaths of Burma were seized. The rest of Burma was captured and absorbed into British India in 1885. A boundary between Manipur and the Chin Hills was established in 1894, and the previous “Pemberton line” boundary was amended once again in 1896. Further border changes occurred in 1901, 1921, and 1922.

Burma was separated from India in 1937 and became a distinct province. India attained independence in 1947 and was divided into two countries (India and Pakistan), with the southernmost stretch of the Burma-India boundary becoming the border between Burma and East Pakistan (modern Bangladesh). Burma became independent in 1948. Burma and India signed a boundary treaty on March 10, 1967, delineating their shared border in great detail. Because of continuing hostilities in northeast India and western Myanmar, security along the border has sometimes been bad.

Both countries have a religious, linguistic, and ethnic past. Myanmar has a sizable Indian-origin population (1.5-2 million). Furthermore, Myanmar serves as our doorway to South East Asia and ASEAN, with whom India desires further economic integration under India's 'Look East' and 'Act East' policies. Myanmar also provides India with an alternate path to the Northeast. Apart from the provision of pulses, the possibility of energy supply from Myanmar's offshore blocks and economic prospects arising from an expanding economy bolster bilateral relations.