JIRIBAM, June 8: Security forces deployed at the Jiribam Sub-division in Imphal East district are reportedly facing difficulties in checking immigrants with fake documents and they may not be able to stop infiltration of illegal immigrants coming to the state from this direction, said an official of the Foreigner Check Post on conditions of anonymity.
Officer in Charge, CID (SB), Foreigner Check Post (FCP) and Officer in Charge, Foreigner Check Post (FCP) posted at Jiribam are performing their duties responsibly however they are facing a lot of difficulties in performing their duty, he said.
“If we missed out any non-Manipuri entering the state through Jiribam with fake document during checking then the higher authorities will charge us of negligence in performing our duty, and on the other hand if we deny entry to any non-Manipuri with real documents thinking it to be fake, those non-Manipuris try to turn things into a communal issue,” said the official.
Standing in the middle, the security forces who are assigned with this job are often left confused and worried while performing their duty.
However, security forces that are deployed there are performing their duty very responsibly and the number of errors is negligible, the official claimed.
According to reports the number of foreigners who entered the state through Jiribam with valid documents was only 34 in 2011 and 37 in 2012. A total of 180 non-Manipuris without proper documents were denied entry into the state in 2012.
During January to May of this current year only 31 foreigners entered the state with valid documents and 488 were denied entry for not having valid documents, sources said.
Another official on conditions of anonymity informed that the Foreigner Check Post can easily identify the foreigners who come through proper channel; however they cannot stop all the illegal immigrants from entering into the state.
The official claimed that the state government has not served any acute instruction regarding the matter and only being an Indian citizen is enough to enter the state, and also foreigner with valid documents can also enter the state.
The workers engaged in the National Highway 37 construction works and Railway lines constructions are mainly brought from Tripura which is nearer to Bangladesh, the official said.
A large number of workers holding their respective companies letterheads where only name and address is written along with a photo as identity proof are allowed entry into the state, the official said while adding that verifying them is a hard thing to do.
There is no guarantee that the companies who hired them did not bring them from the neighbouring country Bangladesh, the official said.
He further said that even though they try hard to make sure that no illegal immigrants are missed during checking, other check post at Nungba, Noney and Keithelmanbi does not do the checking properly and because of this illegal immigrants entering from Jiribam are hard to trace after they reach Imphal, he said.
In regard to this matter, the state government and civil society organizations should work out for a solution to implement Inner Line Permit in the state before the non-Manipuris dominate Jiribam, he said while expressing his concern.
The foreigners who entered the state with valid documents are from Japan, USA, UK, Israel, Slovenia, Australia, Spain, Belgium, Dutch, German, Austria, Finland, Italy and Slovenia, he said.
Most of the non-Manipuris who failed to provide valid documents have claimed that they are from Karimganj district in Assam and Tripura. They were sent back telling them politely to return with valid documents, the official maintained.
The valid documents to prove that he/she is an Indian citizen can be a residential certificate, driving licence, PAN card, voter ID card, ration card etc issued by DC, SDO, SDC, Circle Magistrate officer, he added.