Nepali girls sent to Malaysia, Singapore via NE: NGOs

Young and educated girls from Nepal are being “trafficked” to South East Asian countries such as Singapore and Malaysia via Manipur’s border with Myanmar.

NGOs working against human trafficking said this on Sunday following the rescue of 130 girls from Nepal near Indo-Myanmar border at Moreh and at Imphal airport in Manipur since Friday.

The girls were rescued by police and Manipur social welfare department personnel with the help of two NGOs---Impulse NGO Network and New Life Foundation.

The girls, aged between 25 to 30 years had reached Imphal either by air or by road and were likely to be taken out to Myanmar through Moreh border and then to Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Hasina Kharbih, founder of Impulse NGO Network told DH that based on the information provided by Maiti Nepal, an NGO based in Nepal, 21 girls first were rescued on Friday near Moreh border. In another raid, 67 girls were rescued from hotels in Imphal, Manipur capital. Another 20 girls were rescued from Imphal airport on Saturday.

“According to information shared by NGOs in Nepal, 300 women have already crossed over to Myanmar through Manipur, although this has not been confirmed by officials in Myanmar yet. Trafficking of less educated and economically weaker girls has been a serious issue in the Northeast for a long time. However, we have observed in the past few years that even educated girls are also falling victim of traffickers. These girls are taken out by traffickers with the promise of jobs but many of them face exploitation there. Many end up in flesh trade or in bonded labour, which are the worst forms of exploitation,” Kharbih said.

Seven Rohingiyas detained

Six minor Rohingya girls and one boy was detained at Dharmanagar railway station in North Tripura on Sunday. Police said they were about to catch a train for neighbouring Assam and detained following questioning.