Myanmar refugees find uneasy sanctuary in secret Indian camp
‘Knowledge of this place is spread through word of mouth. We are not inviting people and haven’t publicly announced it as a camp’
Hundreds of worried-looking people fill the damp room, some playing folk songs on their phones, while others sit quietly in the dark.
“I crossed the border into India with three other female police officers at night on a riverboat. I was so scared while crossing that the police would stop me,” said Aung Kyi, a diminutive police officer from Myanmar, who fled after she was instructed to shoot at pro-democracy protesters. Her name has been changed to protect her.
The safe house is part of a camp being run in secret by an Indian NGO that set up the facility after four Myanmar refugees were allegedly deported in mid-March. Believed to be the first of its kind, it runs on a threadbare budget, dependent on donations from residents who belong to the same ethnic group as those on the Myanmar side, known as Mizo in India and Chin in Myanmar.
“Knowledge of this place is spread through word of mouth. We are not inviting people and haven’t publicly announced it as a camp,” a representative from the NGO said.
“We have heard that the [Indian] authorities would send the refugees back [to Myanmar] if they find our camp. They know the refugees are sheltered here in Mizoram but don’t know the location or how many have crossed.”
The Indian Army continues to patrol its 1,643 km border with Myanmar and turn away those fleeing the junta’s increasingly deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. One hundred refugees were allegedly deported from the Indian border village of Farkawn in late March.
“If we receive a tip-off that soldiers in the Indian Army are coming close by then we lock ourselves in, turn off the lights and keep the sound down. This has only happened a few times,” the NGO representative said.
Ms Kyi said she feared for her life should she be returned to Myanmar. Officially, the Indian government has pledged to provide sanctuary to the Myanmar refugees. However, last week officials from Mizoram told the Indian media they still had not received any aid from the country’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), despite asking for support three weeks ago.
Unofficially, it is understood the BJP is not keen to welcome the refugees. A leaked memo from the neighbouring border state of Manipur instructed the authorities there to bar local organisations from offering food or shelter.
New Delhi fears a massive influx when it is struggling to contain the world’s fastest-growing Covid-19 epidemic and also wants to avoid irritating the new Myanmar regime, which enjoys close ties with China.
In the camp the refugees, including several babies, live on two floors, packed together and sharing just two toilets. They are unable to go outdoors. The camp suffers from severe water scarcity, with inhabitants only given one bucket a day for drinking and washing.
The NGO can only provide basic food supplies to camp residents – rice, dal, and potatoes – and is sometimes unable to purchase supplies.
The organisation believes a Covid outbreak in the facility is likely. “We cannot follow the Covid-19 protocols in the camp and the only thing we have been able to do is to distribute face masks once a week,” said the NGO representative.
There are also no mosquito nets or insect repellents, despite the area being rife with vector-borne diseases such as malaria.
Two babies in the camp have already fallen sick from an unidentified fever. “Health supplements like vitamins are needed for my child but I am afraid to go out from here. I am worried about the authorities or paramilitary forces being in the city areas,” said Myint Myint Thaw, as she comforted her four-year-old son. Conditions are particularly tough on the camp’s 19 female inhabitants, who have to use old clothing instead of sanitary towels.
“There is no separate room for the women and sometimes we have to use our blankets as a curtain to change our clothes,” Ms Kyi added.
“It is disappointing that the authorities in India are not providing immediate safe shelter and support to the Burmese. The responsibility to protect lives is primary,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
According to an Indian police officer, there are around 1,800 Myanmar refugees in India, including six lawmakers, but the true number is believed to be much higher, as many are hiding with family in border villages.
The NGO admits the number fleeing has increased tenfold since mid-March. Many of those crossing into India are no longer coming from the border areas and are unable to rely upon extended family networks in Mizoram for shelter.
“In Myanmar, our brothers and sisters are experiencing atrocities from the Myanmar army and so they wanted to come to India for their safety,” the NGO official said. “India provides safety for Hindus but when the same things happen to our Myanmar family, they show their back to them.”