AIZAWL:
The government, on April 22, informed that it has formed a task group to profile the Myanmarese refugees, whose number in the last couple of days has surpassed the 30,000-mark, and issuance of identity cards (IDs) to them will be complete by next week.
profiling and issuing of identity cards to the Myanmar refugees was conducted through the deputy commissioners of all the 11 districts and the process has been overseen and supervised by the Task group, chaired by additional secretary for home and constituted by the state government in early January, an official of the group, informed.
“According to the terms of reference, profiling of the refugees and issue of identity cards was to be undertaken simultaneously and to be completed by February,” he said.
He said that several hurdles prevented the completion of the process within the deadline set by the state government, which included high incidence of Covid-19 infections in the Mizoram-Myanmar border areas where majority of the refugees had taken shelter.
While profiling of the displaced people sheltered in over 130 relief camps was not very difficult, identification and issuing cards to those who were staying with relatives and friends or in rented houses was a big problem, the official added.
“The entry of the refugees from Myanmar, mainly from the Chin state adjoining Mizoram, is a constant process while some of them return to attend to their jhums inside Myanmar, posing difficulties for the officials undertaking the task of profiling and issuing identity cards,” he said.
He added that many of them, after being identified in a district, moved to other districts, which created problems for fear of double entries.
Refugees from Myanmar poured into Mizoram since March last year, after the military junta, which staged a coup on February 1, 2021 launched merciless crackdown on the anti-coup protesters launching movement against the military council headed by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, under the umbrella of Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM).
The ‘Spring Revolution’ launched by civil resistance militia groups, working together with ethnic armed organisations, from September 7, 2021, plunged the country into a major civil war, resulting in mass exodus to Mizoram and other neighbouring countries like Thailand.
There were around 30 legislators among over 30,000 refugees taking shelter in Mizoram, which included chief minister of Chin state Salai Lian Luai.
The legislators were elected in Myanmar general elections, 2020 and the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi and its allies, which had resounding victory failed to form the government due to the military coup d’etat.
The legislators said they regularly attend parliament sessions conducted via video conferencing.