Mizoram in process of implementing PAP regime for foreigners: Official

Aizawl: The Mizoram government is in the process of implementing the system of Protected Area Permit (PAP), a travel document required by foreigners to visit certain sensitive areas, a senior home department official said.

The state government's move came following the directive of the Centre to reimpose PAP in three northeastern states - Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland - that share border with Myanmar.

Mizoram Home Secretary Vanlalmawia said that the state government has been taking steps towards implementing the PAP, also known as the Restricted Area Permit (RAP).

"We are in the process of implementing the PAP. A holding area is also being identified at Lengpui airport as directed by the Union Home Ministry," Vanlalmawia told PTI.

The official said that the state government also urged the Centre to open a designated office in the Mizoram capital Aizawl for ease of foreigner registration as the nearest Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) is in Kolkata.

Although the PAP is yet to be fully implemented, the authorities concerned and law enforcement agencies remain vigilant, he said.

The whole of Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram, and parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand are defined as protected areas.

In 2011 the Centre had relaxed the PAP regime from Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram to boost tourism and exempted all foreigners except Afghanistani, Pakistani and Chinese from the PAP.

This relaxation was later extended from time to time and it had been valid till December 2027.

However, the Ministry of Home Affairs had in December last year reimposed the PAP in Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland to regulate the movement of foreigners amid growing security concerns arising out of influx from neighbouring countries.

Earlier, Chief Minister Lalduhoma had alleged that that some foreigners used Mizoram as a transit route to visit Myanmar to provide military training to pro-democratic forces prompting the re-imposition of PAP for foreign visitors in the state.