IMPHAL, Feb 17 - Altogether 179 Nepali citizens including 147 women, who were rescued from different parts of Manipur, have been formally repatriated to Nepal on Sunday.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh was present at the formal repatriation function of the citizens in the presence of Nepal Embassy Counsellor Prakash Adhikari led officials at Khuman Lampak Indoor Stadium here.
The Nepali citizens including two suspected human traffickers were rescued in one of the biggest rescue operations, in Imphal and Moreh, on the Indo-Myanmar border, on February 1 and 2 this year.
Reports said that the citizens, most of them in between 20-35 years of age, were believed to have been on their way to be trafficked to South Asian and Middle-East countries through Myanmar via Moreh, a commercial border town of Manipur.
A senior Social Welfare department official when contacted said since then they have been staying in eight different Ujjwala homes run by different NGOs in five valley districts. Eight Social Welfare department staff and three police officials are accompanying the team till Panitanki-Kakarbhitta border.
The State Home department issued an order on February 16 to pave the way for their deportation/repatriation to Nepal following a letter from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs was received on February 14.
Consequent upon this development, the formal repatriation process was initiated by the concerned department officials in coordination with the officials of Embassy of Nepal. Finally, the team left Imphal in five buses on Sunday.
