Imphal, July 11: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked the Manipur and Mizoram governments to capture biographic and biometric details of ‘illegal migrants’ in the two states and complete the process by September, this year.

The letters, issued by MHA’s Under Secretary Pratap Singh Rawat to the Chief Secretaries of Manipur and Mizoram last month following a meeting chaired by Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla on April 28, said that the MHA had issued detailed guidelines and instructions in March 2021 on overstay and illegal migration of foreign nationals.

The letter also said that the government is planning to extend the facility of capturing biometric data of illegal migrants up to the police station level.

It is to be mentioned that Manipur and Mizoram governments have already appointed nodal officers to undertake the process to capture biographic and biometric details of ‘illegal migrants’ in their states; and nearly 2,500 illegal migrants have been identified so far.

The MHA’s letter comes in the wake of the ethnic violence that broke out in Manipur on May 3, 2023, which was allegedly fuelled by illegal poppy cultivators and drug lords from Myanmar.

The MHA in March 2021 had also written to the Chief Secretaries of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh asking them to “take appropriate action as per law to check illegal influx from Myanmar into India”. The letter also said that the government is not a signatory to the United Nations Refugee Convention of 1951 and its 1967 Protocol, and that state governments have no powers to grant “refugee” status to “any foreigner”.

The MHA’s letter has been welcomed by some quarters, but others have expressed concern that it could lead to harassment of Indian citizens.

Reasons for illegal migration

Thousands of Myanmar’s citizens fled to the Indian side following the military coup in Myanmar in February 2021, in which the democratic elected government was overthrown and replaced by the military junta.

Reportedly, around 35,000 people including men, women and children crossed over to India, mostly to Mizoram and to Manipur, to avoid being targeted and persecuted by Myanmar military. Manipur government has identified about 2,187 illegal migrants in the state from the neighbouring country.

Over 1,000 tribals have also taken shelter in Mizoram after trouble broke out in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of southeast Bangladesh. The tribal refugees have fled from their native villages in the CHT after an armed conflict started in mid-November last year between the Bangladesh Army and the Kuki-Chin National Army (KNA), also known as Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF).

Kuki CSOs allege government is harassing Indian citizens

Various Kuki Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have been alleging that the Manipur government, in the name of trying to identify illegal immigrants, has been harassing Indian citizens. Kukis say they have been living in the hills of Manipur for decades, and even fought against the British in what is now known as the Anglo-Kuki War (1917-1919).

“The BJP government led by Chief Minister N. Biren Singh only wants to brand genuine Indian Kuki tribes as illegal immigrants,” Kuki CSOs have alleged on a number of occasions.

The state has been devastated by the ethnic violence between the valley-majority Meitei and the hill-majority Kuki tribe, in which atleast 150 people have been killed so far and over 600 people of different communities have been injured.

Govt committed to identifying illegal immigrants

The Manipur government has said that it is committed to identifying illegal immigrants and taking action against them.

The government has also said that it is not targeting any particular community, and that the process of identifying illegal immigrants is being done in a fair and transparent manner.

The government has also said that it is providing humanitarian relief and shelters to the illegal immigrants who have been identified.

Also Read: 77 Manipuri migrants still in Shillong

Also Watch

Find latest news from every corner of Northeast India at hubnetwork.in, your online source for breaking news, video coverage.

Also, Follow us on-

Twitter-twitter.com/nemediahub

Youtube channel- www.youtube.com/@NortheastMediaHub2020

Instagram- www.instagram.com/nemediahub