Detained Norwegian turns out to be KNLA member
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, November 03 2023:
The Norwegian woman of Myanmar origin, who was apprehended by Assam Rifles at Khudengthabi near Moreh town in Tengnoupal district with expired travel documents on August 9, and against arrested from Khwairamband Keithel by police in October, is reportedly a top member of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), a rebel group fighting the government of Myanmar.
Presently she is being kept in a safe custody by the state government in Imphal.
The woman is identified as Mya Kyay Mon (52) of Myaunk Pyin, Mandalay, Myanmar and a permanent resident of Trondheim Sor Trondelag, Norway.
The AR had charged her of travelling without valid passport and E-visa and handed over to Moreh police station where she was booked under section 14 of the Foreigner Act.
A local court subsequently remanded her in police and later judicial custody till she was released on bail on January 6 this year by the Court of District & Sessions Judge, Imphal West.
While granting the bail, the Court ruled that the accused (Mon) should not leave the state without it permission and should furnish details of her local residence to the authorities concerned, including the officer-in-charge of Moreh police station.
During interrogation of the accused while in custody, it was learnt that she is a high ranking cadre of KNLA, Myanmar, sources said.
KNLA is the military unit of the KNU (Karen National Union) which campaigns for the self determination of the Karen people of Myanmar, the sources disclosed, while adding that she joined the outfit in 2003 and she got basic military training for three months.
On October 23, she was found loitering at Ima Market in Imphal city as personnel of City police Station picked her up and following an order issued by the Home Department on October 25, she has been kept at the Foreigners Detention Centre, Imphal.
The order, while stating that she should be provided 'safe shelter and basic amenities', ordered that she should be prevented from "freely roaming without having visa till the completion of any legal process in any court of law or any further deportation process (if any) as done in case of other illegal immigrants".
A source stated that the woman had been putting up in different parts of the state for about three months ahead of the ethnic conflictin May.
Case documents said that the women arrived in India on April 24, 2019 with a valid passport and E-visa, but owing to Covid 19 induced lockdown, she could not renew her travel papers in Imphal.
Another source said that she, while staying in Churachandpur district, had filed a petition with the High Court of Manipur with a prayer to quash the FIR filed against her by the Moreh police station.
She, according to the petition, came to India by duly obtaining an 'Indian visa' on her Norwegian passport and has been travelling to Bodh Gaya on a pilgrimage and to various other state of India where there is poverty and destitute.
"She also came to Manipur and stayed at the border town of Moreh and rendered humanitarian services to the destitute persons in the remote villages," said the petition.
It mentioned that she has been in custody for more than the statutory period of 120 days and that the Government of Norway issued a new passport to her on October 13, 2022.It is learnt that her petition is still pending in the High Court of Manipur.
(Courtesy: Waari Singbul Network) .
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