Ethnic conflict in Myanmar drives 4,000 Chin people to Mizoram

The Hindu

07-07-2025

GUWAHATI
A battle between two ethnic armed groups in Myanmar has forced some 4,000 Chin people in the country to take refuge in Mizoram.
Officials in Mizoram's Champhai district said waves of Myanmar nationals began crossing a border bridge at Zokhawthar and the Tiau River since the gunfights broke out on July 3. The river demarcates a part of the 510 km border between Mizoram and Myanmar.
'The refugees are taking shelter in the houses of their relatives, schools, and community halls. They are concentrated in the Zokhawthar and Vaphai villages,' a district official said, declining to be quoted.
The Chins of Myanmar, and the dominant Mizos of Mizoram are members of the greater Zo community, as are the Kukis, Zomis, Hmars, and Kuki-Chins (Bangladesh). It is not unusual for these ethnic groups to have relatives on either side of the border.
According to community elders in Zokhawthar, the refugees started trickling in after observing the movement of armed men in areas close to the border less than a week ago. The 'warning shots' erupted into a fierce gunfight on July 5.
Security officials guarding the border said the fight was between the Chin National Defence Force (CNDF) and the Chinland Defence Force-Hualngoram (CDF-H) for the control of areas deemed strategic for border trade with India.
After two days of exchanging fire, the CNDF was learnt to have captured all eight camps of the CDF-H in the area.
The two groups are part of the People's Defence Force that is leading a resistance movement against Myanmar's military junta, which captured power through a coup in 2021.
'Given the volatile situation across the border, we have not asked these refugees, many of them women and children, to go back. Our villagers and members of NGOs such as the Young Mizo Association are looking after the basic needs of the refugees,' the district official said.
On Sunday (July 6, 2025), Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma's political adviser Lalmuanpuia Punte reportedly visited the border area to hold talks with the leaders of the two extremist groups for cessation of violence.
More than 30,000 refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh have been living in Mizorams since before the arrival of the 4,000 Chin people. About 2,000 Kuki-Chin refugees from Bangladesh arrived two years ago following clashes between their community-based armed ethnic group and Bangladeshi security forces.
Apart from the refugees, more than 5,000 Kuki-Zo people displaced by the ethnic violence in adjoining Manipur have also been taking shelter in Mizoram since 2023.