Imphal, September 16 2017: As a part of several measures taken up by Manipur Police to prevent Rohingya Muslims from migrating to Manipur from neighbouring Myanmar, a massive drive has been launched at the border areas of Jiribam to identify illegal immigrants .
On account of the large scale violence which has besieged Rakhine province of Myanmar, around 2,90,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh, says a UN report .
It has already been reported that around 1000 people have been killed in the violence .
In view of the protracted violence and exodus of Rohingyas from Bangladesh to neighbouring countries, Manipur Police and Assam Rifles have taken up stringent security measures to prevent Rohingyas from crossing into Manipur .
As a part of these security measures, a massive drive has been launched at the border areas of Jiribam district under the supervision of Superintendent of Police M Mubi to identify illegal immigrants .
The drive has already completed four days today.
In the course of the drive, police went to border villages inhabited by non-Manipuris and the residents were asked to produce their voter identity cards, Aadhar cards and other documents .
Voter ID cards and Aadhar which were suspected to be forged were also detected in the course of the drive.
However, there is no report of pulling up any illegal immigrant so far .
Notably, Manipur shares a 364 Km long boundary with Myanmar.
Even though a small section of the international boundary has been fenced, forest areas make up larger sections of the international boundary.
As such, there is a possibility of immigrants crossing into Manipur through the porous border sections, informed a source .
Some foreigners who crossed into Manipur illegally were arrested recently.
Notably, Indian citizens and Myanmar Nationals can move between the two countries without passports and visas for some distance within specific hours of a day .
Tengnoupal Police too have already put in place stringent security measures at the border town of Moreh to check immigrants from crossing into Manipur, added the source.
Source: The Sangai Express
