NEW DELHI: The Manipur police have detained 10 Myanmar nationals, who have been undergoing medical treatment for injuries cause by bullet and explosive at the district hospital in Churachandpur, for entering India without valid documents.
This has raised alarm in the already volatile Manipur, where ethnic-clashes have been taking place for more than two months, but officials in the security establishment told The Tribune that they are no way connected with the ongoing violence in the state.
The officials said all of them were intercepted by the Assam Rifles at the border and were permitted to enter India, as they were having medical emergency. They said, due to ongoing crisis in neighbouring Myanmar, several people are allowed by the forces, as a matter of the government policy to avail treatment in Manipur in case of a “medical emergency”.
They, however, said all 10 Myanmar nations have been detained by Churachandpur police, but they would be deported back once their treatment gets over. According to state officials there are over 40,000 refugees from Myanmar, who have taken shelter in Mizoram and Manipur since a military coup in the neighbouring country in February 2021.
Incidentally, India shares with Myanmar a free movement regime (FMR) within 16 km on both sides of the border, though the Manipur Government has temporarily suspended the provision in view of the ongoing trouble in the state. The officials, however, said in specific cases people are allowed to enter India.
Sources in security establishment said, three of the 10 detained Myanmar nationals were admitted to hospital since April 20, before the ethnic violence erupted in Manipur on May 3.