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In a significant decision, the Mizoram government has declared that it will not be collecting biometric data of Myanmar refugees in the state, ignoring a direction by the Centre.
In April this year, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs had directed the governments of both Mizoram and Manipur, which share borders with Myanmar, to capture the biometric and biographic details of “illegal immigrants” in their states. In June, it directed the states that the campaign be completed by the end of September and directed both to prepare a plan and initiate the process.
The government of Mizoram, which is headed for elections by the end of this year, has opened its doors to refugees fleeing the army crackdown in Myanmar and has earlier too ignored the Centre’s orders to close the border. The Chin people in Myanmar share a common ethnicity with the Mizos.
Now, while the Zoramthanga-led Mizo National Front (MNF) government has said it won’t be collecting the biometric data of refugees, the Manipur government too has sought an extension.
Manipur started the process on July 29, with assistance of officials from the National Crime Records Bureau, but Chief Minister Biren Singh said last week that he would ask the Centre to extend the timeline by a year, as the ongoing strife is delaying the exercise.
Mizoram Minister of Information and Public Relations Lalruatkima told The Indian Express that the state has not collected the biometric data of any immigrant till date, and that they have decided not to do so on “humanitarian grounds”. He placed the number of refugees in the state from Myanmar and the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh at around 60,000.
Like the Chin state in Myanmar – with which Mizoram has a 510-km border – the Chin-Kuki tribals in Chittagong Hill Tracts also share a common ethnicity with the Mizos.
Refugees have been entering Mizoram from Myanmar since the February 2021 military coup in the country. The Centre has repeatedly told the state to stop the flow, pointing out that state governments do not have the power to grant “refugee” status to any “foreigner”.
Referring to the ethnic bond with the refugees, Lalruatkima said the state government would not collect the biometric data as the Centre, “after taking it, will push them out”. “The people who have come from Myanmar are our relatives. When borders were drawn during the time of the British, some of our brothers and sisters got left on the other side. This is the condition of the Mizo. When the military coup happened, they came to take shelter here,” he said.
The minister admitted that the issue has been taken keeping into mind the coming Assembly elections, where it will play a role. “This is a political issue. We cannot make any move on this matter till the elections are done,” he said.
While the BJP is not a part for the MNF government in the state’s 40-member assembly, the MNF is a part of the NDA at the national level. In the last few years, Zoramthanga has cultivated the image of a leader of the Mizos, including of the broader Kuki-Chin people. Apart from Myanmar, his government has opened its doors to the Kukis fleeing the violence in Manipur, with their numbers estimated at more than 12,000.
