300 more flee to Mizoram as Chin armed groups clash in Myanmar's Chin State
Zokhawthar village
bordering Myanmar in Champhai district.
Villagers from Chin state fled to Mizoram as the area saw fresh confrontation between two
Chin armed groups
.
A senior officer in the state government who do no want to be named told ET, ' Several hour-long firing took place between
Chinland Defence Force
- Hualngoram (CDF-Hualngoram) and the
Chin National Defence Force
(CNDF) cadres at Rihkhawdar village and Khawmawi".
He added, 'There are report of a refugee getting drowned in the Myanmar border river Tiau The
Assam Rifles
sealed the Indo-Myanmar gate at Zokhawthar'.
According to a state Home Department official, a total of 33,004 Myanmar nationals, including 12,572 children, are currently sheltered in different camps, government buildings and rented houses in all 11 districts of Mizoram. They took shelter in Mizoram in phases after the military takeover in the conflict-ridden country in February 2021.
Over 2,000 tribals from the Chittagong Hill Tracts of southeast Bangladesh also took shelter in Mizoram in November 2022 after they fled from their villages in CHT following ethnic troubles in the neighbouring country. Around 7,800 refugees belonging to the
Kuki-Zo community
from Manipur have also taken shelter in several districts of Mizoram after the ethnic violence broke out in the neighbouring state in May last year.
The refugees from Myanmar, Bangladesh and Manipur belong to the Kuki-Zo-Chin-Hmar-Bawm tribal community who also share ethnic, traditional, cultural and linguistic ties with the Mizos of Mizoram.
The union home ministry in a communique to the chief secretaries of Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, and the director general of Assam Rifles on March 10 in 2021 stated that there was a probability of large-scale illegal influx into the Indian territory due to the current internal situation in Myanmar. It had earlier issued an advisory to these states and the security forces to stay alert and take appropriate action to prevent a possible influx into Indian territory.
The union ministry had also said that state governments had no power to grant refugee status to any foreigners.
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