About 400 Myanmar citizens are still in a prison at Indian’s Port Blair naval base, most of whom are workers in the fishing industry, said an official from Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Myanmar fishermen have been jailed for a variety of reasons, though 249 of them will be released on May 31 and June 2. They are to be released after they have served their prison terms. More than 20 people have been released from the prison, but authorities are still checking their citizenship status, said Sein Oo, director general of the Consular and Legal Affairs Department under the ministry. He said: A total of 126 citizens will be brought on May 31, and 123 will return on June 2. Eight government officials went to India to bring them. One officer from our embassy in New Delhi and two officers from Kolkata will go to Port Blair to help them. We are still checking the citizenship status of the people who have just been released. There are still people in the prison. I don’t know how many Myanmar citizens are left in the prison. I think there are about 400 of them. We have to check their citizenship first before we bring them home, he said. Officials from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population, the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Health and Sports negotiated to repatriate the released workers, who include 223 workers from Ayeyawady Region, 14 workers from Rakhine State and two workers from Yangon Region. Government authorities will welcome them at the airport in Myanmar and send them home.
2016, Eleven Myanmar