‘Biometric enrolment of refugees underway across all Mizoram dists'
Officials in Champhai district, which hosts the largest number of Myanmar refugees (13,586), had reported technical snags when the exercise began on Thursday, but expressed optimism that the process will run smoothly, starting from Monday.
In Lawngtlai district, which borders both Myanmar and Bangladesh, biometric data collection began on Thursday at Chanmari relief camp. Officials reported collection of biometric data from 152 refugees (45 males, 58 females, and 49 children).
Lawngtlai hosts the second largest number of refugees from Myanmar and over 2,000 from Bangladesh. Adjoining Siaha district, hosting the third largest number of refugees from Myanmar, also started the process on Friday and will continue this week.
Lawngtlai and central Mizoram's Serchhip district are the only two districts providing shelter to refugees from both Myanmar and Bangladesh. Serchhip's Thenzawl town is currently home to 266 refugees from Bangladesh.
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State home department officials said although the ministry of home affairs (MHA) is slated to bear all expenses for biometric enrolment, using the 'Foreigners Identification Portal & Biometric Enrolment' (FIP&BE), the state govt has allocated Rs 38 lakh as initial expenditure. This was done after the MHA instructed the state govt to begin the process by July. According to the latest govt records, a total of 32,504 displaced people from Myanmar are currently in Mizoram.
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The 1960 treaty, brokered by World Bank, divided the Indus basin between India and Pakistan, granting the eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) to India and the western ones (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) to Pakistan. Live Events Hailed as a model of water diplomacy, the IWT not only partitioned rivers but institutionalised a mindset of hydraulic engineering at the cost of environmental sustainability. As both countries now grapple with climate change and water stress, the flaws of that approach have become unignorable. Long before the treaty, the Indus — or Sindhu — shaped civilisations for over 4,500 years. Known as Sengge Chu in Tibet, Abaseen in Pashto, and Shendu in Chinese chronicles, it nourished the ancient cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, supported empires from the Mauryas to the Mughals, and inspired Vedic hymns, Sufi poetry and pilgrimages. Alexander the Great compared it to the Nile. Persia's Darius I commissioned Scylax to navigate it in the 6th century BCE. Arab conquests under Muhammad bin Qasim relied on controlling the lower Indus. Mughal emperors recorded its richness, and British colonialists mapped its potential. The Rig Veda hymns praised: 'Sindhu in might surpasses all the streams that flow...' Near Rohri, the river nurtures spiritual islands like the shrine of Khwaja Khizr, guardian of waters, and Sadhu Bela temple, founded in 1823. Legends abound: of dolphins circling the island in sacred procession; of Palla fish blushing red when they reach Khwaja Khizr. Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai's Shah Jo Risalo uses the river as metaphor and mirror — for longing, spiritual quest, and separation. Despite this stature, modern nation-states subdued the Indus. Pakistan, with World Bank support post-IWT, built dams (Tarbela, Mangla), canals, and barrages (Guddu, Sukkur, Kotri). India pursued similar projects. Engineering success came with ecological collapse. Freshwater flow decline: from 150–180 MAF to under 10 MAF. 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