GUWAHATI
Mizoram, burdened with refugees from civil war-ravaged Myanmar, is now dealing with people fleeing alleged persecution in Bangladesh.
More than 270 Chin-Kuki people from the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Bangladesh have taken refuge in southern Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district following an alleged offensive by the Bangladesh Army against an armed group of the community.
District officials said the refugees began trickling in through the jungles along the India-Bangladesh border on November 20 evening.
“A total of 272 people have arrived. The locals are providing them with food and necessary items. The State government is looking into the matter,” a senior district official said, declining to be quoted.
The Bangladesh Refugee Committee in Mizoram said the refugees entered Bonduk-Bangsora, a village located near the tri-junction of Bangladesh, Myanmar and Mizoram, and moved to a nearby village, Simeinasora, on Monday morning.
“The refugees, mostly women, children and elderly people, wanted to proceed to Parva village but the Border Security Force personnel did not allow them,” Khuma Bawm, a member of the committee said, adding more people are waiting for an opportunity to cross over through the jungles along the India-Bangladesh border.
He said trouble had been brewing in the CHT for a long time over the Chin-Kuki community’s movement for autonomy, spearheaded by the Bangladesh-based insurgent group Kuki-Chin National Army (KNA), also called Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF).
He accused the Bangladesh Army of targeting the Chin-Kuki people by taking the help of the Arakan Army, an extremist outfit in the adjoining Myanmar.
“The minority Kuki-Chins number about 3.5 lakh in the CHT. The KNA is fighting the Bangladesh Army, which struck a monetary deal with the Arakan Army for the offensive. They attacked Kuki-Chin villages, tortured innocent people and raped women and girls,” Mr. Bawm said.
Officials in the State capital Aizawl said Mizoram cannot turn away the new set of refugees on humanitarian grounds although the State and local villagers are struggling to sustain almost 40,000 Chin-Kuki refugees, including legislators and government officials, from Myanmar. The Chin-Kuki people and the dominant Mizo community in Mizoram belong to the Zo community and share the same culture and ancestry.
