The refugees started arriving in Mizoram from Thursday after observing the movement of armed rebels and apprehending fresh trouble.Photo | Express
GUWAHATI: Nearly 4,000 people from the Chin community in Myanmar fled to Mizoram’s Champhai district in the wake of a fierce gunfight between two ethnic armed groups.
The refugees arrived in the Zokhawthar and Vaphai villages through a border bridge and by crossing the Tiau river that separates the two countries in the area. Most of them are taking shelter in their relatives’ houses, while others are lodged in schools and community halls.
Chins, Mizos, Kukis, Zomis, Hmars, and Kuki-Chins (Bangladesh) are ethnic cousins, belonging to the Zo community. Most Chins and Mizos living in places near the Myanmar border have their relatives on each other’s side.
The refugees started arriving in Mizoram from Thursday after observing the movement of armed rebels and apprehending fresh trouble. As the situation in Myanmar areas remained tense, the Mizoram government did not ask them to go back.
A Mizoram government official, who did not wish to be named, told TNIE that the refugees taking shelter in community halls and schools were being looked after by villagers and a few NGOs.
The gunfight between the Chin National Defence Force (CNDF) and the Chinland Defence Force-Hualngoram (CDF-H) erupted on Saturday, reportedly to assert supremacy. The CNDF managed to capture all eight camps of the CDF-H in the area.
According to reports, a few CDF-H members, injured in the gunfight, were evacuated to Mizoram for medical treatment.
The two rebel groups are part of the People’s Defence Force that is leading a resistance movement against Myanmar’s military junta which captured power through a coup in 2021.
Amid the escalating tensions, Mizoram Chief Minister’s political adviser Lalmuanpuia Punte reportedly visited the border area on Sunday to hold talks with the leaders of the two extremist groups.
The influx of these people comes at a time when Mizoram is already burdened with over 30,000 refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh. People from Myanmar started fleeing to the northeastern state ever since the coup by Myanmar’s junta.
The refugees from Bangladesh – around 2,000 of them – had arrived in Mizoram two years ago in the wake of clashes between an armed ethnic group and Bangladeshi forces.
Apart from these refugees, a few thousand Kuki-Zo tribals from Manipur, displaced by the ethnic violence, have also been taking shelter in Mizoram for the past two years.
