Over 3,000 Myanmar nationals head back home after border tensions ease

Myanmar refugees who had fled to Mizoram following clashes between Chin rebel groups have returned home after a ceasefire

Aizawl: Nearly 3,000 refugees from Myanmar, who recently crossed the international border and took shelter in India, have returned to their villages in the neighbouring country, a senior police officer said on Thursday.

More than 4,500 refugees from the neighbouring country had entered Mizoram and taken shelter in the border villages of Zokhawthar, Saikhumphai, and Vaiphai in Champhai district, following an armed conflict between Chin rebel groups — the Chin National Defence Force (CNDF) and Chinland Defence Force (CDF-Hualngoram) — backed by the Chin National Army (CNA), officials said.

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The refugees belonged to nearby border villages in Myanmar’s Chin state. A senior police officer told PTI that a total of 2,923 Myanmar refugees who had taken shelter at Zokhawthar village, and 39 others at Vaphai, have returned to their country as of Wednesday.

He noted that the return of the refugees began on July 7 and gained momentum on July 12, following a ceasefire agreement between the warring Chin factions. The situation along the Indo-Myanmar border is calm now, the officer said, expressing hope that a few more refugees may return in the coming days.

Mizoram shares a 510 km-long porous border with Myanmar. The CNDF and CDF, the two pro-democratic forces fighting against the Myanmar military junta, had engaged in fighting in early July for control of areas, forcing more than 3,000 refugees to flee to Zokhawthar.

Subsequently, retaliatory attacks by the CNA, the largest Chin rebel group, on a CNDF camp at Rihli village in Chin state, triggered an additional influx of more than 700 refugees to Saikhumphai and Vaiphai. Mizoram has already given shelter to more than 32,000 Myanmar refugees, who had fled their country following a military coup in February 2021.

The state government is planning to collect biometric and demographic details of Myanmar refugees in July-end for identification purposes. The Myanmar refugees are mostly from the Chin community, who share ethnic ties with the Mizos.