Imphal: Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh expressed concern over the presence of Rohingyas in the state and said that efforts must be made to identify the people facilitating their entry and providing them shelter.
The chief minister was speaking with reference to the arrest of six Rohingyas who had arrived from New Delhi with forged documents at Tulihal International Airport in Imphal on Saturday.
Addressing people on the occasion of Patriots' Day on Tuesday, he said, "It indicates that many of them are taking shelter in the state and we have to find out the persons who are behind the illegal entry of Rohingyas from different places."
Urging the locals to trace Rohingyas and the agents who are bringing them to Manipur, the chief minister said, the "already sinking" Manipuri population will disappear in the coming years, if they do not take the initiative.
Police investigation revealed that the six Rohingyas were trained in a Madrasa in Delhi and had come to the state with the help of some agents based in the national capital and Manipur, DIG T Ngasangva had told reporters on Sunday.
The Rohingyas had admitted that they were residents of Yangon and Mandalay in Myanmar, the DIG said.
More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled from Myanmar's Rakhine state to neighbouring Bangladesh since August 2017 after a military crackdown, triggering a massive refugee crisis.