40 Myanmar army personnel who fled to Mizoram amid conflict sent back

They had been taking shelter along with other Myanmar nationals following attacks by insurgents on military camps. While there was no official word on their evacuation, sources confirmed to The Indian Express that the Myanmar soldiers were flown to Moreh in Manipur to provide them a “safe passage”.

Since Sunday night, around 5,000 people from border villages in Myanmar have crossed over to the Indo-Myanmar border seeking refuge in Mizoram’s Zokawthar area in Champhai district. Zokawthar is just a few kilometres from Rikhawdar and Khawmami, the latest theatre of an offensive against the junta by resistance fighters in different parts of Myanmar.

According to local Refugee Relief Committee chairman Robert Zoremtluaga, Champhai district was already housing over 19,000 refugees before the events of Sunday night. “We thought on Monday evening the movement had stopped but then from last night, lots more people started coming again. Some have gone to other parts of Champhai as well,” he said.

Mizoram IGP (Law and Order) Lalbiaktganga Khiangte told The Indian Express that along with residents of these villagers fleeing the gunfighting are also 42 personnel from the Myanmar army and two from the Myanmar police.

“The PDF [People’s Defence Forces] attacked their camps and captured them because of which they ran away. There was no other direction for them to escape, the safest way was westwards towards Mizoram. When they crossed over, they surrendered to Mizoram police and we promptly handed them over to the border guarding force, which is the Assam Rifles. The further course of action will be carried out by them,” he said.

Khiangte stated that one of the Army personnel is an officer while the rest are soldiers.

The current fighting in Myanmar has triggered a fresh influx of refugees into Mizoram, which has been welcoming Chin refugees from the neighbouring country – with whom they share a common ethnicity – despite Union government directives against harbouring them as refugees. Prior to this new spike in refugees, Mizoram had already been housing more than 30,000 refugees from Myanmar and also had more than 12,000 displaced people from the Kuki-Zomi community in Manipur – also of the same ethnicity – seeking refuge there.