Manipur has sounded a red alert to avert any attempt by Rohingyas fleeing Rakhine to enter India.
Manipur, which shares over 300 kilometres of border with Myanmar, has sounded a red alert to avert any attempt by the Rohingyas who are fleeing Rakhine to enter India. The red alert is so intensive that even Buddhists in Myanmar are under the scanner like never before.
India and Myanmar have a visa free movement for citizens of both countries within a 16-kilometre radius from the International Border. The Manipur police is keeping a very close eye on this movement of people for trade so that the Rohingyas cannot enter in the garb of traders.
Apart from the Assam Rifles that guards the India-Myanmar border in the north east intensifying its vigil, the Manipur police has increased its search operation. "Our teams are on alert on both international border check gate one and two and so far we have not come across any refugees crossing this side" Ibomcha Singh, Superintendent of Police, Tengnoupal told NDTV.
The Indo-Myanmar border is a difficult terrain and India is trying to fence it. But large part of it remains unfenced and few patches are disputed from where insurgents and illegal migrants can sneak in.
Much of the influx into India, experts say, is from the Bengal-Bangladesh border. Rohingyas who entered Manipur in 2014 are now jailed in Sajiwa prison near Imphal.
Now the Myanmarese Buddhists, who for years have treated it as invisible border, are feeling the heat.