Mizoram faces refugee influx as conflict rages
Mizoram, which has become home to around 8,000 refugees from neighbouring Manipur, mostly Kukis, over the past few weeks following violence in that state, and which is also home to refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh is working to ensure it takes care of the newcomers without compromising its own interests and India’s security concerns.
Mizoram shares a 95-km border with Manipur, a 722-km border with Myanmar, and a 318-km border with Bangladesh; it is also home to the Chin-Kuki-Mizo ethnic group, which has close cultural and linguistic ties with the people of the Chin Hills in Myanmar, the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Bangladesh, and the Kukis in Manipur; and it has now become a natural destination for people fleeing violence, persecution and instability.
According to state government records, there are over 40,000 Myanmar nationals, 700 Bangladesh nationals, and around 8,000 people from Manipur who have taken shelter in Mizoram.
The Mizoram government has ignored the Union home ministry’s strict orders against hosting any refugees, and been vocal in its support of Myanmarese refugees who started streaming in after the military coup of February 2021, and the Bangladesh nationals who came to the state after clashes between the Bangladesh Army and the Kuki-Chin National Army (KNA) began in October last year.
Officials from the State Home Department say the state has spent over ₹38 crore on the Myanmarese and Bangladeshi refugees. NGOs have pitched in too. For instance, the Central Young Mizo Association’s (CYMA) president R Lalngheta said the NGO has spent ₹57 lakh in supporting Myanmar refugees and₹31 lakh on Bangladeshi ones.
The real issue, though, isn’t the money — it is security.
India is yet to officially recognise Myanmar or Bangladesh refugees, and asked the state to prevent illegal immigration and deport people without valid documents.
Assam Rifles, which is manning the Indo-Myanmar border, have plans to increase and tighten security along the border.
Though Lalngheta refutes claims of an increase of drugs smuggling and crimes in Mizoram with the influx of refugees, an officards.
cial from Assam Rifles said: “We have to tighten security along the Myanmar border... Illegal influxes can hamper the law and order situation, and have led to an increase in drugs and arms smuggling.”
Assam Rifles also claims that three illegal bridges have been constructed at different locations at the India-Myanmar border — a hanging bridge over Tiau River at Lungkawlh, Ngharchhip, and Thekte villages.
An Assam Rifles official added: “Many illegal immigrants who have entered from Myanmar and Bangladesh have managed to acquire fake identity They have even managed to travel out of the state and one has recently been apprehended with a fake ID in Bengaluru.”
Mizoram’s concern for refugees has moved up a notch with happenings in Manipur, which has been convulsed by ethnic violence between the Meitei community and the Kukis since May 3. The violence has left at least 80 dead and another 40,000 displaced.
After Mizoram’s lone Rajya Sabha MP, K Vanlalvena, wrote to Union minister Amit Shah and appealed for the Centre’s intervention to stop the Manipur government from trying to convert the tribal land into forest reserves, and to restore peace in the region, the NGO Co-ordination Committee of Mizoram met with Shah on May 15 and submitted a memorandum requesting the Centre’s intervention to restore peace in Manipur.
Samuel Zoramthanpuia, president of Mizo Students’ Union said, “As the current violence in Manipur is between two communities, it is important that Zo ethnic tribes across the globe and the Government of Mizoram extend a strong support for the demands of the tribals in Manipur.”
Lalngheta added that the YMA will extend unconditional support to their Zo ethnic kin.
Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga, during a speech at the Mizo National Front’s office on May 19, said that the unification Chin-Kuki-Mizo ethnic group in India, and bringing them under one administrative unit, Greater Mizoram, was one of the main objectives of the founders of his party. His statement was met with harsh criticism from the World Meitei Council (WMC).
There has been some internal opposition to Mizoram’s refugeefriendly policy. One of Mizoram’s political parties, the People’s Conference (PC) has said the government is not keeping track of the movement of refugees.
Experts say Mizoram’s refugee crisis is a reflection of the complex and dynamic realities of Northeast India’s borderlands.
“In this age of globalisation, no community is an island, it is a multicultural world we live in... Thousand of Meiteis are also currently living peacefully outside Manipur where they is a small fraction of the entire population. Intimidation and threat against minority is inhuman...,” said Dr Lallianchhunga, associate professor in the Department of Political Science in Mizoram University.