NEW DELHI: Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla had requested the governments of Manipur and Mizoram to collect the "biographic and biometric details of illegal migrants" days before ethnic violence broke out in Manipur. The retina, iris, and fingerprints are among the biometric data that must be provided.
The States were reminded by the Ministry to finish the exercise by September 30 in a letter dated June 22.
Mr. Bhalla presided over a conference on collecting data regarding illegal immigrants in the two States that share a border with Myanmar on April 28.
Taking on Twitter, Manipur MP Rajkumar Imo Singh said, “This has already been published in the paper recently, GOI has undertaken the task to identify illegal migrants across Manipur and Mizoram by capturing biometric data which is to be completed by 30th September. State government had already started this earlier this year due to which nearly 2500 illegal migrants were identified. All districts have to arrange this upto the police station level as per the standardised format of NCRB. Looks like this is a step towards NRC.”
In a significant disclosure made earlier on June 27, intelligence sources indicated that weapons used to foment unrest in violently disturbed Manipur were smuggled through Myanmar.
A big shipment of weaponry was delivered to Manipur via the Myanmar route in the month of June 2023, according to a report in India Today.
According to secret sources, three trucks carrying a sizable stockpile of weaponry were purchased by active insurgent factions in Manipur.
The open border between India and Myanmar is believed to be being used by insurgent groups to smuggle weapons to Manipur.
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