The Imphal Free Press

IMPHAL, Oct 11: All the five girl victims of human trafficking from Manipur and Assam to Malaysia arrived at Kolkata yesterday from Malaysia via Chennai. The girls from Manipur reached Imphal this afternoon.
After lobbying with the officials of the Indian and Malaysian governments for a whole month they were brought back from Malaysia yesterday, said North East Helpline in a statement today.
The girls were, however, not accompanied by any women officials of the Manipur government as well as India government and this was strongly condemned by the NE Support Centre and Helpline which also expressed dissatisfaction over the neglect by the government.
A spokesperson of the helpline, Madhu Chandra confirmed over phone the arrival of the girls and said that the five victims of human trafficking arrived at Chennai and Kolkata from Kuala Lumpur early yesterday without any lady officials accompanying them.
Four of them hailing from Manipur further arrived at Imphal airport this afternoon and were taken away by their respective families from the Imphal airport, reports said.
Mention may be made the NE Support Centre and Helpline took a major role in facilitating the return of the girls to India from Malaysia after they escaped from a night club where they were allegedly sold by their traffickers.
At their arrival, they were taken to Kolkata Manipur Bhavan under the care of the resident commissioner for a night’s stay without any women companion, it added.
Dr. Alana Golmei, a social worker from New Delhi along with two women from the same community and a brother of one of the girls went to receive them at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Airport yesterday but they were not allowed to meet the girls at the airport.
Further they were refused entry into the Manipur Bhavan to meet them, the spokesperson said.
NE Helpline also alleged that the residential commissioner of Manipur Bhavan, Kolkata, Dr. MK Singh intentionally refused to respond when they attempted to contact them.
Madhu Chandra also blamed the Indian foreign ministry for not arranging women officials to accompany the victims from Chennai to Kolkata. “Arranging a male official to accompany the girls added more trauma and suffering,� Chandra said.
Abel and Joe Networking Pvt. Ltd. (www.abelnjoe.com), a company based at Singapore through its newly opened branches in north east India have reportedly recruited nearly 150 girls from the region on the promise of jobs in Singapore.
Five of the victims who managed to escaped and arrived at Imphal today were also recruited by Abel and Joe Networking Pvt. Ltd. and kept for three months in Singapore without any work and later they were taken by the traffickers to Malaysia.
The victims sought shelter at the Indian High Commission, Kuala Lumpur after they realized they were being trafficked. Later, they took shelter under the care of Pastor David and his wife in Kuala Lumpur.
Earlier on September 29, a delegation led by public affairs national secretary of the All India Christian Council, Dr. Sam Paul along with Madhu Chandra, and Lansinglu Rongmei, president of North East Support Centre and Helpline met the National Commission for Women, High Commission of Malaysia and Union minister for tribal affairs PR Kyndia and appealed to the concerned Indian and Malaysian authorities for repatriation of the helpless girls.
NE Support Centre and Helpline have also, in the meantime, asked the ministry of external affairs, north eastern state governments and South Asian countries to watch over the activities of Singapore based Abel and Joe Networking Pvt. Ltd. and ban their branches operating in the north eastern region.
 

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