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NEW DELHI: More than 1,000 people fleeing the violence in Myanmar have crossed into the neighboring Indian state of Mizoram since late February, an Indian lawmaker told Reuters yesterday.
With that number likely to rise further, authorities in the small northeastern state are pressuring federal authorities to help build designated refugee camps near the border, said Mizoram Member of Parliament K. Vanlalvena.
“Otherwise all the refugees will be scattered everywhere in India,” he said.
The influx into India began in late February, weeks after Myanmar’s military staged a coup, sparking a wave of protests as people demanded a return to civilian rule led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. .
At least 234 people have been killed since the February 1 coup began and thousands have been detained, according to an activist group.
The Myanmar military has said it has only used force when necessary. The army has also defended his inauguration, saying his allegations of fraud in the November 8 elections swept by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party were ignored by the electoral commission.
Although dozens of Myanmar police officers and their families initially crossed for refusing to obey orders to break up the pro-democracy protests, Vanlalvena said more people were leaving Myanmar’s Chin State due to growing unrest and entering Mizoram.
“Most of them are civilians,” he said. “The number of police is not increasing.”
A spokesman for the military junta did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.
Previously, around 400 people from Myanmar, including police and fire department personnel, were believed to have entered India, according to a senior Indian police official.
Last week, the federal government of India ordered four states that share a border with Myanmar and the paramilitary forces guarding the porous border, to prevent any illegal influx from the neighboring country and to deport those who had crossed.
But Mizoram has opposed the directive, and the state’s prime minister, Zoramthanga, wrote to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday to urge that refugees from Myanmar receive asylum.
“I understand that there are certain foreign policy issues on which India should exercise caution,” said Zoramthanga, who uses only one name, according to a copy of the letter reviewed by Reuters.
“However, we cannot ignore this humanitarian crisis,” he said. – Reuters
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