Mizoram refugees

1. Union Home Minister Amit Shah assures Mizoram CM Lalduhoma.
2. Myanmarese refugees won’t be deported until peace is restored.
3. Commitment to the well-being of refugees in Mizoram.

New Delhi, Jan 07: Union Home Minister Amit Shah gave assurance to Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma that Myanmarese refugees taking shelter in the state will not be deported until complete peace is restored in the neighbouring country.

Lalduhoma called on Shah at the latter’s office in Delhi on Thursday afternoon when the Union Home Minister expressed the centre’s intention of not to push back 31,873 refugees from Myanmar taking refuge in Mizoram.

“I want the people of Mizoram to know that the refugees will not be deported unless and until peace is restored in Myanmar,” Shah told Lalduhoma.

The Union Home Minister informed Lalduhoma that the policy of the present government at the centre is to take and record fingerprints of all the foreigners living in the country. It may be noted that the previous Mizo National Front (MNF) government turned down Delhi’s instruction to collect biographic and biometric data from the Myanmar refugees last year.

Also Read: Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra Set to Enter Assam on January 18

The two leaders discussed the Mizoram Registration of Household bill, passed by the state legislature in 2019, which is yet to be given assent by the President of India.

Shah asked Lalduhoma to make some amendments to the bills before submission of the bill again.

Lalduhoma later met Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and informed him about the Union Home Minister’s assurances not to deport Myanmar refugees from Mizoram.

The MNF government in early 2021 had rejected the instructions of the centre to push back refugees from Myanmar who fled their country following the military coup d’êtat on February 1 which triggered a brutal military crackdown on pro-democratic demonstrators who launched the civil disobedience movement.

The Ministry of Home Affairs even ordered the Assam Rifles, guarding the 404-km-long Mizoram-Myanmar international border, to allow the refugees to enter Mizoram.

The state government continued to let the tens of thousands of Myanmar refugees take refuge with the state government, civil societies, churches and individuals continuing to provide humanitarian assistance to the refugees.