New Delhi: Mizoram chief minister Lalduhoma has told Prime Minister Narendra Modi in no uncertain terms that his government would not send back refugees taking shelter in the north-eastern border state after fleeing the Bangladesh Army.
Almost 2,000 Bangladeshi refugees belonging to the Bawm tribe, a tribe kindred to the Mizos, the largest community of the state, are in the state at present.
The refugees have been trickling into Mizoram since November 2022, from their native villages in Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) due to an offensive launched by the Bangladeshi Army against Kuki Chin National Army, an insurgent group that demands a separate Kuki-Chin state.
On July 7, during a brief meeting with Modi in New Delhi, the chief minister said New Delhi must understand that those who have been taking shelter in Mizoram from the clashes belong to a sister tribe of the Mizo-Zo people. According to Mizoram Post, he told the PM that while they have been seeking shelter in Mizoram since 2022, “many of them are still trying to enter the state”.
The news report said it is alleged that as many as 93 such refugees have been sent back by the international border guards, the Border Security Force, in the last few days after they entered the state’s Lawngtlai district. The move attracted the ire of the Zo-Re-Unification Organisation (ZORO), an Aizawl-based Mizo group that represents Chin-Kuki-Mizo-Zomi tribes living across India, Bangladesh and Myanmar. ZORO has alleged that at least 200 others had been sent back by BSF in recent days.
“ZORO said that the Bangladeshi refugees are still languishing in the forest (beyond the Indian border) as they are afraid of returning to their villages (in CHT)”. A powerful ethnic organisation, ZORO has made a call to the state government to protect the refugees.
Mizoram Bawm Students Association vice-president Lalramchhana Bawitlung told told Times of India earlier this week that on July 3, BSF had pushed back “140-150” such refugees. He also alleged that about 30 of them were “beaten” by the security personnel and “later given medicines” in an effort to forcibly deport them. He said they had entered Damdep-2 village in Lawhgtlai district and were given shelter in community halls “when the BSF came and dragged them out”.
“About 30 of them were beaten up and later given medicines by the BSF personnel, while the rest of them were deported back to Bangladesh and (are now) forced to take shelter in the thick jungle,” he claimed.
“Given their vulnerable condition and the risks they are facing if returned to Bangladesh, we earnestly request that the deportation be halted immediately. These refugees should be allowed to stay in the designated refugee camps in India until a safer, more permanent solution can be found for them,” he said.
On July 7, the Mizoram CM told PM Modi that he can’t send them back “forcibly”.
Earlier, Lalduhoma’s predecessor Zoramthanga had also turned down New Delhi’s orders to send back refugees who had entered Mizoram from the strife-torn Myanmar as they belong to the Chin community – also a Mizo-Zo tribe. In March 2021, he had written to PM Modi saying the deportation of refugees would not be acceptable to his government.
Zoramthanga’s party, the Mizo National Front (MNF) had lost to Lalduhoma’s Zoran People’s Movement (ZPM) in the last assembly elections. Soon after taking control of the state’s administration, Lalduhoma had told reporters that there will not be any change on that stance.
