Mizoram govt trains officials to begin biometric enrolment of Myanmar, Bangladeshi refugees

Aizawl, July 20 (IANS) The Mizoram government has been providing vigorous training to the district level officials to collect biometrics and biographic data of Myanmar and Bangladeshi refugees taking shelter in the northeastern state, officials said here on Sunday.

A Home Department official said that the process of recording biometrics and biographic data of Myanmar and Bangladeshi refugees would start from this month (July).

Training of district-level officials on the ‘Foreigners Identification Portal and Biometric Enrolment’ for displaced persons from Myanmar and Bangladeshi nationals are almost completed in all 11 districts of Mizoram.

The District Level Committee on Myanmar and Bangladesh Refugees (DLCMBR) are providing training to the officials and government staff to equip them for proper identification and enrolment of displaced refugees.

After a military coup in Myanmar in February 2021, refugees, including women and children from the neighbouring country, started coming to Mizoram seeking shelter, and now their numbers have increased to around 35,000. Around 5,000 Myanmar refugees also took shelter in Manipur.

The Manipur government has almost collected the biometric and demographic data of the refugees staying in the state. Besides the Myanmar refugees, over 2,370 Bangladeshi Bawm community tribals from Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) are also staying in Mizoram for over two years after they fled from their country due to ethnic troubles after the Bangladesh Army launched a crackdown on the tribals.

According to the Mizoram Home Department official, Rs 38 lakh was earmarked for the exercise, and the expenditure would be borne by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

The MHA had earlier asked both the Manipur and Mizoram governments to capture biographic and biometric details of “illegal migrants” in the two states and complete the process at the earliest. Both the northeastern states had earlier agreed to undertake the collection of biometrics and biographic data of Myanmar nationals.

Over 4,650 people, including women and children, from Myanmar earlier this month fled to Mizoram and taken shelter in three locations of Champhai district following a series of armed clashes between the Chin National Defence Force (CNDF) and Chinland Defence Force (CDF), both anti-military ethnic groups, who were engaged in fierce gun battles between June 28 and July 5 over control of the territory.

However, as the situation along the India-Myanmar border is relatively calm now majority of the newly arrived Myanmar refugees have returned to their villages in the neighbouring country.

The Myanmar refugees, mostly Chin tribes and have almost full ethnic and cultural similarity with the majority Mizos of Mizoram, now sheltered in camps and relatives’ houses in 11 districts in the northeastern state.

Also, the Bawm, also known as Bawmzo, are a small ethnic group primarily residing in the CHT of Bangladesh, and they have almost full ethnic and cultural resemblance with the majority Mizos of Mizoram.

According to the Home Department officials, the Myanmar and Bangladeshi refugees are currently taking shelter in 11 Mizoram districts.

Myanmar’s Chin state shares 510 km of mountainous borders with six Mizoram districts — Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Hnahthial, Saitual and Serchhip.

Mizoram’s three districts, Mamit, Lunglei and Lawngtlai, share a 318 km long border with Bangladesh.

–IANS

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