India to exchange territory with Myanmar ... :::: "only nine unresolved boundary pillars that are being addressed"

"There are certain areas on the border between the two countries (India and Myanmar) which are still to be settled and discussions on those particular sectors are going on between the two sides," MEA spokesman Randhir Jaiswal told reporters during regular briefing on Tuesday, Aug 4, in New Delhi.   

The state of Manipur alone shares a 398 km porous border with Myanmar. 

India and Myanmar share a 1,643-km-long international boundary that runs through Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram before entering Myanmar's Sagaing Region and Chin State. 

Much of the frontier is mountainous, forested and porous, cutting across ethnic communities that have historically lived on both sides.

                                                       Myanmarese young students in a specially designed school in Mizoram

The most sensitive stretches in Manipur include the Molcham sector between border pillars 64 and 68, the Moreh sector between pillars 75 and 79, and the Choro Khunou sector between pillars 88 and 95. India has consistently maintained that there is no broader border dispute with Myanmar, but only nine unresolved boundary pillars that are being addressed through bilateral mechanisms.

                         Myanmarese students cross bridge to come to Indian schools in Mizoram 

The MEA spokesman was responding to a question about reports suggesting that India was considering a land swap with Myanmar along the Manipur border. While he stopped short of confirming the reports, he acknowledged that discussions were underway to resolve unsettled stretches of the boundary. 

His remarks came weeks after US-based magazine 'The Diplomat' reported that New Delhi was actively considering such a proposal. 

In a July 17 report citing an "official document", the magazine said the Indian government was examining a "proposal" to complete the demarcation of the boundary between border pillars 65 and 68 along Manipur's border with Myanmar by exchanging around 1.4 square miles of territory. 

The distance between pillars 65 and 68 is approximately 2.8 km in length.

The proposed area for exchange lies in Manipur's Chandel district, adjoining Myanmar's Kabaw Valley in the Sagaing Region. 

According to the "official document", dated May 26, 2026, the demarcation exercise was expected to be completed within three months, meaning around August. 

Around 1,472 km of the border has been demarcated through boundary pillars, while nearly 171 km remains unresolved, mainly in Arunachal Pradesh's Lohit sector and Manipur's Kabaw Valley.

According to The Diplomat, the primary rationale behind a possible territorial exchange is to expedite the demarcation of an unresolved stretch of the India-Myanmar border, enabling New Delhi to fence the frontier to curb illegal immigration, insurgent movement and other cross-border crimes.

In Feb 2024, Home Minister Amit Shah had announced a plan to fence the entire 1,643-km-long international boundary while also scrapping the India-Myanmar border Free Movement Regime that had been in place since 2018.

The arrangements allowed tribal communities living near the border to travel up to 16 km into each other's territory without a visa using a border pass.

The current India-Myanmar boundary was defined under a 1967 bilateral agreement, but parts of it remain unsettled.