12 more Myanmarese held in Tripura

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Agartala, March 9 (IANS): The influx of Myanmarese into India through Bangladesh continues, with 12 more, including a woman, being held for illegally entering Tripura, police said on Thursday.

With this, 95 Myanmarese, comprising Rohingya Muslims and Buddhist tribals, seeking jobs in India have crossed over to Tripura from Bangladesh since mid-2011. "Acting on a tip-off, the 
Assam-bound 12 Myanmarese were arrested by the Tripura police at Mungiakami on the Assam-Agartala national highway, 40 km north from Agartala, late Wednesday night," a police spokesman said.

"The detainees told the police they were going to Silchar (in southern Assam) in search of jobs," the police officer said. "All the foreign nationals are Rohingya Muslims who entered Tripura illegally through unfenced Sonamura border from eastern Bangladesh," he added.

On Thursday, the Myanmarese nationals were presented before a local court, which sent them to 14 days' judicial custody. The illegal entrants would be sent to Bangladesh after completion of legal formalities, the police official said. They told the police officials that authorities in Myanmar were indifferent to the problems of the people living in the mountainous regions bordering India and Bangladesh.

"Intermittently, the Myanmarese Army has unleashed atrocities on a section of nationals, especially Rohingya Muslims and Buddhist communities," the official said after interrogating the Myanmarese nationals.

Over 50,000 Myanmarese have been living in different parts of neighbouring Mizoram, bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh, and working at various shops and factories after obtaining work permits.

Since the mid-1990s, over 225,000 Myanmar nationals, mostly Rohingya Muslims, have been sheltering in the Teknaf region in Cox's Bazar district of southeastern Bangladesh.

Four Indian northeastern states of Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Assam share an 1,880-km border with Bangladesh, while Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh share a 1,640-km unfenced border with Myanmar.

The mountainous terrain, dense forests and other hindrances make the unfenced borders porous and vulnerable, enabling illegal immigrants and intruders to cross over without any hurdle.



Source: The Assam Tribue