Won’t collect biometrics of refugees from Myanmar, Bangladesh, says Mizoram CM
The Mizoram government will not collect the biometric details of refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh in the State, Chief Minister Lalduhoma told the Assembly on Thursday.
According to the State Home Department, 32,221 people displaced by the civil war in Myanmar and 1,167 others fleeing alleged ethnic persecution in Bangladesh have taken refuge in the State since February 2021. Mizoram is also housing some 9,000 internally displaced people, mostly from strifetorn Manipur.
Mr. Lalduhoma told the the 40member House that the Union Ministry of
Home Affairs had directed the State government in April 2023 to collect biometric data of “illegal immigrants” for security reasons. The Manipur government was also given a similar instruction.
Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh share a 1,643km border with Myanmar.
The previous Mizo National Front (MNF) government, headed by Zoramthanga, had conducted training and appointed nodal officers for the purpose, but later decided not to collect biometric and biographic details of the refugees as it would “amount to discrimination against people of our blood”. The Assembly election in November 2023 was also cited as a reason for declining to undertake the exercise.
‘Meant for deportation’
“I told the Union Home Minister that the portal used for collecting biometric details is meant for deporting illegal immigrants. Our State government, thus, has decided not to collect the biometrics of the people from Myanmar and Bangladesh,” Mr. Lalduhoma said.