More than 200 refugees from Myanmar’s Chin state and Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts entered south Mizoram Lawngtlai district bordering Bangladesh and Myanmar, an official said.

At least 127 people belonging to the Bawm tribe, one of the ethnic Mizo tribes, from Bangladesh, entered Chamdur ‘P’ village in Lawngtlai district last week raising the total number of Bangladeshi refugees taking shelter in Mizoram to 1,368, the official said.

About 1,241 Kuki-chin people from Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts have already taken refuge in Lawngtlai district.

They began entering Mizoram in November 2022 due to a military offensive by the Bangladeshi army against the Kuki-Chin National Army (KNA), an ethnic insurgent group fighting for a separate state.

The official also said that about 95 refugees from Myanmar’s Chin state also fled to Lawngtlai and Khawzawl districts between April 30 and the first week of May.

The Myanmar nationals reportedly fled their homes fearing forced conscription by the Arakan Army militant group, the largest ethnic armed organisation in the neighbouring country, he said.

District administrations have been making arrangements for immediate relief and humanitarian assistance for the newly arrived refugees, he said.

According to the state home department, a total of 34,346 Myanmar nationals, including 13,302 children, have taken shelter in Mizoram spreading across all the 11 districts as of May 4.

Of the 21,044 adults, 10,097 are males and 10,947 are females, it said.

17,901 Myanmar refugees are staying outside relief camps by joining relatives or friends as well as staying in rented houses, while 16,445 people live in 149 relief camps across seven districts, it said.

East Mizoram’s Champhai district hosted the highest number of Myanmar refugees at 14,499 followed by south Mizoram’s Siaha district (6,044) and Lawngtlai district (5,922), it said.

The Chin people from Myanmar have been taking shelter in Mizoram since February 2021 after the military junta seized power in the neighbouring country.

Besides refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh, over 8,000 Kuki communities from Manipur have also been taking shelter in different parts of Mizoram following ethnic violence in the neighbouring state since May last year, officials said.

The Chins, Kukis and Kuki-Chin people share ethnic ties with the Mizos.

Earlier, Chief Minister Lalduhoma had said that his government would continue to provide relief to the Myanmar and Bangladeshi refugees and internally displaced people from Manipur on humanitarian grounds.

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