India Myanmar Corridor
Human
trafficking: India’s border with Myanmar is new route for Nepalese people being
taken to Gulf.
The
first leg of the ambitious Trilateral Highway linking India and Myanmar was
opened last year, making new flows possible.
A
new route to Myanmar
The
new route emerged when Myanmar opened up its land boundary with India in
August, making Moreh a valid “port of entry” into the country. Before that, travelling
to Myanmar from India usually meant flying into Yangon. Travel through the land
border at Manipur required obtaining a special permit from the Myanmar
government in addition to a visa – a process that former applicants describe as
long-winded and mired in red tape.
The
opening of the new land route coincided with the inauguration of an integrated
check-post at the Indo-Myanmar border in Moreh. It was pitched as part of
India’s Act East policy, expanding its interests in South East Asia as it eased
immigration and customs clearances. It was part of India’s attempts to foster
movement on the first leg of the Trilateral Highway – a project by India,
Myanmar and Thailand that seeks to connect the three countries. The first
stretch connects Moreh in Manipur to Mandalay in central Myanmar. The new
highway, it is hoped, will open up the North Eastern region to foreign
investments.
For
Nepalese citizens, too, the opening of this new route meant a significantly
cheaper way to travel to Myanmar. They do not require a visa to travel to
India. Once in Manipur, all they would need to enter Myanmar was an e-visa –
easily obtainable online within three days to those with a valid Nepalese
passport.
But the new route has also brought new hazards, including increased human trafficking, especially of Nepali citizens. On February 1 and February 2, 179 people – 147 women and 32 men, including the 33-year old from Surkhet – were intercepted by the Manipur police in Imphal and Moreh. They were acting on a tip-off from Maiti Nepal, an anti-trafficking non-profit organisation in Nepal. According to the police, all of those held were Nepalese passport holders, headed to either West Asia or South East Asia via Myanmar. The police also arrested eight agents – one woman and seven men, all from Nepal – charging them with human trafficking.
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