Former Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh has urged the state home department to publicly share updated biometric enrolment figures for Myanmar nationals identified as illegal immigrants, saying regular disclosure would improve public confidence and demonstrate the government’s commitment to border security.
Singh made the request in a social media post on Tuesday after the Mizoram government said biometric enrolment of Myanmar nationals sheltering in the state was nearing completion. Mizoram reported that only 33 people remained to be registered after biometrics had been collected from 99.90% of the 29,792 Myanmar nationals currently there.
“This is not about politics. It is about national security, safeguarding our borders and protecting the future of our people,” Singh said. He described Mizoram’s monitoring of the influx as an example of vigilance and said Manipur’s home department should regularly publish the number of people whose biometric details had been collected, identified and verified.
Singh said such disclosures would strengthen public confidence and reaffirm the government’s commitment to protecting the state’s security and the interests of its indigenous communities. His demand comes against the backdrop of a longer-running biometric exercise in Manipur involving people who entered the state from Myanmar after unrest began in the neighbouring country in 2021.
According to figures presented by Manipur home minister Konthoujam Govindas in the state assembly last September, 24,475 illegal immigrants from Myanmar had been detected in the state. Of these, 14,992 had returned to Myanmar, while 9,453 were staying in temporary shelters in districts along the border.
The minister said biometric data had been collected from 1,308 of the 4,770 immigrants remaining in Chandel district. In May 2024, Singh, who was then chief minister, said biometric details had been collected from 5,173 of the 5,457 illegal immigrants identified in Kamjong district.
Manipur shares a 390-kilometre border with Myanmar as part of India’s 1,634-kilometre international boundary with the country. Large stretches of the Manipur border remain unfenced, a condition that authorities and political leaders have linked to unauthorised crossings and cross-border crime.
The Union home ministry directed Manipur and Mizoram to record biometric details of suspected illegal immigrants after both states received people fleeing the military crackdown and political unrest in Myanmar. More than 35,000 Myanmar nationals have been sheltered in Mizoram, according to the report.
Manipur’s biometric exercise began while Singh was in office. A cabinet sub-committee was established in February 2023 to identify illegal immigrants. The campaign resumed in July 2023 after being disrupted by ethnic violence that began in the state on May 3. The Centre extended the deadline for completing the exercise from September 30, 2023, by six months to March 31, 2024.
Singh’s latest request focuses on the public release of updated figures rather than the creation of a new enrolment process. The report does not state whether the Manipur home department has responded to the demand or whether a revised statewide dataset is currently available.
