Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma Meets Amit Shah Amid Refugee Crisis, Border-Fencing Plan

New Delhi/Guwahati:

Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma has been assured by Home Minister Amit Shah that no refugee will be sent back to Myanmar until normalcy returns to the neighbouring country where the junta is fighting pro-democratic insurgents, sources have said.

Mr Shah told Lalduhoma that it is a rule, however, for every foreigner living in India to get their biometric registration done.

While in Delhi, Lalduhoma also called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his home on Thursday. PM Modi congratulated the new Mizoram Chief Minister for winning the recent state election.

Lalduhoma told PM Modi that the border with Myanmar was forced upon them without consent, and so it is unacceptable for people of the same ethnic groups on both sides of the border.

Lalduhoma’s predecessor Zoramthanga had objected to the Centre’s instruction to deport Myanmar nationals. The former Chief Minister had said they won’t deport Myanmar nationals as they belong to the same ethnic group, and Mizoram would continue sheltering them on humanitarian grounds.

Mizoram in September decided it will no longer collect biometrics data of people coming from violence-hit Myanmar, especially Chin State bordering India.

In the meeting with Mr Shah, Lalduhoma raised the matter of the Household Registration Bill passed by the Mizoram assembly, which is yet to get the President’s assent. Mr Shah told the new Mizoram Chief Minister they should make amendments in the bill first.

The crisis in Mizoram’s neighbouring state Manipur has been pinned on illegal immigrants from Myanmar crossing over to India over a matter of decades, and a huge network of drug traffickers fed by thousands of acres of poppy cultivation in the hills.

The Centre has decided to scrap for now the Free Movement Regime (FMR) that allows people close to the India-Myanmar border to go 16 km into each other’s territory without visa.

The Kuki tribes in the hills of Manipur have strongly denied the allegations by the Meiteis, who live in the valley areas, and claimed the Meiteis dominate the state’s politics and only want to grab the land of the tribes.

Over 180 have died in the violence that began on May 3 and thousands have been internally displaced. They are still living in relief camps, unable to return home – either to the valley for the Kuki tribes, or the hills for the Meiteis.