Manipur to deport 77 Myanmar nationals

Imphal, March 10 (IANS) The Manipur government will deport 77 Myanmar nationals, including 55 women and five children, by Monday, officials said here.

The Myanmar nationals fled to Manipur after the Military junta seized power in that country on February 1, 2021.

A senior official said here on Sunday that the first batch of seven Myanmarese was deported on March 8 through the Moreh border town in Manipur's Tengnoupal district.

The state home department had sought the Assam Rifles support for necessary assistance to the Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police of Tengnoupal district in the deportation process.

Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh earlier said that although India is not signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, it has given shelter and aid to those fleeing the crisis in Myanmar on humanitarian grounds with a systematic approach.

Since the Military took over in Myanmar three years ago and the armed clashes have been going on between the Army and the pro-democracy civilian armed forces, over 5,000 Myanmar nationals, including women and children, have taken shelter in Manipur while over 32,000 people have taken shelter in Mizoram.

A majority of the refugees live in relief camps and government buildings in Mizoram, while many others are accommodated by their relatives. A large number of Myanmarese have been staying in rented houses.

Besides the civilians, a few hundred Myanmarese soldiers also fled to Mizoram in different phases after their camps were captured by the armed pro-democracy ethnic groups, who stepped up their battle against the Army in early October last year. However, all the Army personnel were deported to their country.

The Manipur government has collected the biometric details of the Myanmar nationals, sheltered in the state.

The Mizoram government, however, turned down the Union Home Ministry's (MHA) advice to collect biographic and biometric data from the Myanmar refugees.

There is a total of 1,643 km of unfenced India-Myanmar border along Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, and Mizoram.

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