Aizawl: The Mizoram government has completed 65.82 percent of the biometric enrolment for refugees from Myanmar taking shelter in the state.
According to the official record, there are 30,893 refugees from Myanmar taking shelter in Mizoram.
The Myanmar nationals fled the country, and are taking shelter in Mizoram after the military staged a coup d’état abruptly curtailing the democratic transition of the country on February 1, 2021.
Many other refugees also took shelter in the border villages of Zokhawthar, Saikhumphai, and Vaiphai in Champhai district following an armed conflict between Chin rebel groups — the Chin National Defence Force and Chinland Defence Force.
Primarily the refugees belonged to nearby border villages in Myanmar’s Chin state. The Myanmarese refugees from Chin State are ethnic cousins of the Mizos, and are part of the Zo family.
As many as 49 fresh refugees recently entered the state from Haimual village in Tedim township of Chin state due to intensified attacks by the Myanmar Army ahead of the first phase of election to be held on December 28.
Of 30,893 Myanmar refugees the biometric data of 20,333 have so far been collected and are enrolled in the Foreigners Identification Portal.
Meanwhile, biometric enrolment of refugees from Bangladesh has also been undertaken in some districts of Mizoram, the officials said.
As per reports, out of 2,374 Bangladesh refugees, 332 people have so far been enrolled, which is about 13.98 percent of the refugee population.
All the 249 refugees in central Mizoram’s Serchhip district have been enrolled in the biometric enrolment, and there are 76 refugees from Bangladesh in south Mizoram’s Lunglei district.
There are seven refugees from Bangladesh in Aizawl district, and they have also completed the biometric enrolment.
