Salai Hung Tun Gei — There are different lists of the number of Myanmar refugees who fled to India due to the conflicts and serious human rights violations in Myanmar.
Many refugees fled to Mizoram and Manipur of India which is the closest to Myanmar. Most of them are from Chin State and are now staying in Mizoram.
In Mizoram legislative assembly held in February, the Chief Minister of Mizoram, Mr.Pu Zoramthanga proposed a list in which the numbers of refugees were 24289.
Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) stated that over 20% of the Chin population has fled due to the clashes. Some people had to flee from Chin State to other regions within the country and there are over 30000 refugees that have fled to India.
All Indian Radio Aizawl based in Mizoram quoted the list of the number of refugees released by CSOs who are helping refugees and it was presented in TV news in February saying there were over 40000 refugees.
Due to the increase in the number of the refugee who s fled to India for continuous fighting in Chin State and Sagaing State, the number of refugees cannot be stated in exact numbers.
The Central government of India released a statement in 2021 that they could not recognize the refugees from Myanmar. The Indian government had not signed the International Refugee Convention. Therefore, the refugees in India did not receive humanitarian aid provided by the UN and the international community. Although Chin CSOs including Chin Human Rights Organization cooperated to send a letter to the UN related to the refugees and the accelerated attacks by SAC in Chin and Sagaing regions, the North West of Myanmar, the UN released just a statement of concern regarding it.
The Mizoram state government recorded the numbers of refugees who s fled to India and provided shelters to them. To be able to provide long term support, it has also urged the Central government in the meeting held at the end of 2021 with Chief Minister Mr.Pu Zoramthanga, with the members of Chin state government including former Chief Minister of Chin State who is now dwelling in Mizoram and other parliament members of Chin State.
Justuce Mahesh Mittal Khumar, a member of the Indian National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) stated in the press release which was held in Shilong, Mizoram State that the Nation had the right to provide Humanitarian Aid under all conditions to Myanmar refugees who had fled across the border.
He continued that the refugee issue is different from the Rohingya issue so it is open to apply for humanitarian aid because of an international convention that had been agreed and article 21 of India’s constitution was also enacted to protect all citizens or non-citizens whose human rights were violated.
After the crackdown on the protests by the coup in Myanmar, the locals from Kalay Township, Sagaing Region, and from Northern Chin state fled to Mizoram, the neighboring state.
The people of Thantlang situated at the border of India fled to Mizoram and other villages at the border due to the brutal set fire cases by SAC. Thantlang which has around 3000 households were set fire by SAC for 26 times from September 2021 to February 2022 and over 1200 houses were burnt down according to what Thantlang Replacement Affair Committee released in early March.
The religious buildings, churches, shops, offices, and schools were also set on fire by SAC. Chin State is the land of mountains so it was a huge loss for Thantlang since it costs double the times to build the houses and buildings for having transported the construction materials from mainland regions.
According to the report of Data for Myanmar, Sagain,g, Kayah, and Chin State have the biggest number of set fire cases until the end of February during the clashes. Among them, Chin state is the second-biggest state for set fire cases and over 1500 houses were burnt down till the end of February.
The refugees in the control areas of Chin Defense Forces in Thantlang are taking medication in India since there are no health care services and medical doctors in those areas. Relying on foods and groceries transported from India, the refugees have to struggle with the high price of goods for the poor logistic system at the border.
Since there were fierce battles between SAC and Chin Defense force at the end of January, over 2000 people fled to India according to the news covered by the Indian Media. Some aged people died while fleeing the lack of health care in Matupi. Within 1 year, over 30 aged people died fleeing the fight. Some refugees are taking emergency medication in India to cure the wounds of mine stepping and gunshots. Those refugees who fled to India have been welcomed and provided food, clothes, and health care at the refugee camps prepared by CSOs and religious organizations in India.
According to the list of Mizoram State Government, there are 141 refugee camps in 11 districts and over 9000 refugees are staying there. And also over 15000 refugees are staying in another region of India (living with relatives/as tenants).
Some refugees who had fled to India earlier are now staying at the rent house and looking for daily jobs since they have their own inconveniences at the camps. One of the refugees said that she chose to stay at the rent house because she had a concern about the nutrition of her children and their health as they were fed what was provided by the camp but she was having a hard time experiencing high rent prices and shortage of job.
Ministry of Home Affairs of Mizoram State Government has listed the refugees in February and handed out refugee sees registration cards. Over 8000 refugees received those cards in February and it will provide more in the future. As for State Government, 380 INR was spent on the listed refugees. Since the inland state Mizoram has to mainly depend on the assistance of the Central Government, long-term support for refugees will definitely need the help of the Central Government. Mizoram is also a state where all the goods and commodities were transported from mainland India and Myanmar.
Mizoram is a self-administered state and values maintaining national identity. Moreover, Mizoram did not accept the railway projects of the Indian Central Government to prevent bringing a lot of people from different ethnic backgrounds India which has a very big population to the state.
India and Myanmar were once under the British colony and when they were announced as independent nations, Chin people were recognized as one ethnic group although they were scattered in India, Myanmar, and Bangladesh. Chin people in India were called as Mizo tribe and they are now in Mizoram.
Under the long dictatorship in Myanmar, Chin people were trading goods to Mizoram and other places along the Indian border because of poor living conditions in the country. In 2013 and before 2010, Mizoram state which strictly banned the narcotic drugs trading kicked out Chin people, set fire to the whole villages, and mistreated Chin migrant workers for the reason of trading drugs from Myanmar to India that making the Mizoram’s locals became victims.
However, during the democratic transition of Myanmar, Mizoram state and Chin people had a better relationship in terms of trading, traveling across the border, and celebrating the festivals and Chin State Government even paid a friendship visit to Mizoram. Chin Media Network which is composed of local Chin media also visited Mizoram and organized the workshop to exchange the media work with Mizoram Journalist Organizations. In this way, both sides have gained stronger relationships between Governments, CSOs, and Media.
During 2016 and 2017, Mizoram accepted thousands of refugees fled fierce fighting in Paletwa between Myanmar Military and Arakan Army(AA) to Mizoram and provided humanitarian assistance to them by building refugee camps.
After the military coup, the conflict became grower and more refugees came into Mizoram. Although some assistance has been provided to the refugees by the state government, religious organizations, and CSOs without any restraints, there have been some rules and regulations issued for Myanmar refugees on 7th February.
Those rules include that the refugees have no right to apply for asylum and have to inform the current stay respective administration offices. Moreover, staying in the rescue camps, traveling, or moving out to other camps need to be approved by the respective government offices. For doing business, the refugees also need to follow the local laws, state laws, and laws of the Indian Government.
Without the permission of the District Administration and in charge of refugee rescue camps, the refugees are restricted to take part in interviews with the media.
Currently, since the battles in Chin State and Sagaing State have become fiercer than before and other places in those regions have started to experience the fighting again, fleeing to the neighboring country, India is the only option for the people. SAC is accelerating the attacks by increasing troops, using artillery, tanks, and airstrikes. It is not easy to knock down from one side to the other side for both local defense forces due to geographic situation and the military which has avery powerful force. Therefore, the endless battles will be continued.
In recent days, there has been aggressive fighting in Kanpalat, Southern Chin State which leads more than a thousand locals to flee to the jungle, and also the clashes in Rikawda, Northern Chin state which is also the border of India have become more brutal. In February, there have been fighting between Chin National Defense Force and SAC troops at the border area, Rikawda and around a thousand refugees have to flee to India. Those border areas have become so empty due to the clashes. According to the locals, more than 2000 people have fled to India from the border trade area. In Chin State and Sagaing State, because of increasing the military capacity of local defense forces, the collection of more weapons, and the fierce attacks of SAC with artillery and a big number of troops, there would be more and more refugees. The situation of the refugees is getting worse to be able to return to their homes. They have experienced being burnt down the houses, losing their farms, and the continuous attacks of SAC. And also there have been other cases such as rape cases to pregnant women and other human rights violations and set fires cases to the houses and properties of refugees. Some people who had remained without fleeing for some reason became convict porters of SAC and altogether 168 locals were killed until December 2021 stated to Chin National Affair Council.
Therefore, those who the refugees fled to Mizoram seemed to stay for a long term in Mizoram. So, the questions about long-term support for those refugees can be raised by the Mizoram State Government which has not received assistance from Central Government for the refugee issue.
On the other side, Indian Government is protecting Myanmar Military from the coup in the international community and having a relationship with SAC as usual. Therefore, it has become a fact that needs to be taken into consideration for the Myanmar refugees. Myanmar is also taking part in military operations of BIMSTEC which includes India, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Bangladesh. Therefore, India for Myanmar which is composed of Myanmar citizens in India has sent open letters to stop the recognition and invitation to SAC.
