93% Myanmar refugees enrolled in Mizoram

The Mizoram Government has nearly completed the biometric enrolment of refugees from Myanmar who have taken shelter across the State, Home Minister K Sapdanga informed the Assembly on Monday.

The minister said that deputy commissioners are currently supervising the final phase of the process.

“Altogether, 93 per cent of the biometric enrolment for Myanmar refugees was completed as of February 5. We aim to complete the remaining work as quickly as possible,” he said.

According to the minister, Mizoram currently hosts 38,059 people, including refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh as well as internally displaced persons (IDPs) from neighbouring Manipur. He said the registration process, which involves collecting biometric and demographic details of asylum seekers from Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), is also underway and expected to be completed soon.

A senior official of the State Home Department said 13 per cent of over 2,300 Bangladeshi nationals have been enrolled to date.

Among foreign nationals sheltered in the State, Myanmar nationals form the bulk, with over 28,000 people staying across all 11 districts.

Asylum seekers from Bangladesh are lodged mainly in Lawngtlai and Serchhip districts, the official said. Additionally, nearly 7,000 Kuki-Zo people from Manipur displaced by ethnic violence are also sheltered in the state, another official said.

The enrolment drive for refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh began in late July last year through the ‘Foreigners Identification Portal and Biometric Enrolment’ system following a directive from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

The senior official said district authorities faced impediments such as technical glitches and weak or unavailable internet connectivity in remote villages, particularly in Lawngtlai district.

While it is easier to collect data from refugees living in relief camps, it is difficult to undertake the task of collection of those people residing with relatives or friends or in rented houses, he said.

“Although the number of Myanmar refugees keeps changing due to frequent in and out migration, we are trying our best to ensure that no refugee is left.

We also hope to complete the process soon,” the senior official told the media. Mizoram shares a 510-km long international border with Myanmar in the east and a 318-km stretch with Bangladesh in the west.

Myanmar nationals, mostly from Chin State, fled to Mizoram following a military coup in the neighbouring country in February 2021, while the asylum seekers belonging to the ethnic Bawm tribe, one of the Mizo tribes, from Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts came to the state after a military offensive against an ethnic insurgent group in 2022.

The Chin, Bawm and Zo-Kuki people share close ethnic ties with the Mizo people.