30,000 Myanmar refugees entered Mizoram since last year; 589 crossed last week

More than 30,000 people from Myanmar have crossed the international border into Mizoram since the military seized power in the neighbouring country in February last year, Mizoramhome minister Lalchamliana told the state legislature on Tuesday.

Of the 30,401 Myanmar nationals, 29,253 are currently taking shelter in the state according to reports submitted by deputy commissioners to the state home department on August 20, the home minister said in a written reply.

He said that the government has completed profiling the Myanmar nationals and issued identity cards, certifying the holder as a refugee.

“Although profiling is more or less completed, it is a continual process and conducted in a phased manner as there are still new entrants and some people used to return to their villages on a regular basis,” he said.

Lalchamliana said that the state disaster management and rehabilitation department has so far disbursed ₹3 crore as relief.

A government official later said that there has been a fresh influx of Myanmar nationals in the state’s southernmost Lawngtlai district in the wake of armed clashes between the Myanmar Army and the underground Arakan Army (AA) in Myanmar’s Varang and surrounding villages near the Indian border.

Lawngtlai sub-divisional officer (Sadar) TT Beikhaizi said 589 more people from Myanmar entered the district over the past week following armed clashes between the Myanmar Army and AA on August 31.

Of the 589 new entrants, 210 took shelter at Hmawngbuchhuah village, 115 at Zochachhuah, 127 at Laitlang and 137 others took shelter at Dumzautlang village in Lawngtlai district, she said.

According to Beikhaizi, the district nodal officer of the task group on Myanmar refugees, 5,909 Myanmar refugees have taken refuge in the Lawngtlai district.

Six Mizoram districts – Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Serchhip, Hnahthial and Saitual- share a 510 km long international border with Myanmar’s Chin state.

The influx of refugees, mostly from Chin state, started in late February last year.

The Chin community share ethnicity with the Mizos.

The majority of the Myanmar refugees live in relief camps but there are some who have been accommodated by their relatives or live in rented houses.

The refugees are provided with food and other relief by NGOs, churches, student bodies and village authorities.