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NEW DELHI: At least 19 Myanmar police officers have crossed into India to escape receiving orders from a military junta that is trying to suppress protests against last month’s coup, an Indian police official said on Thursday (4 March), adding that more were expected.
The men crossed into Champhai and Serchhip, two districts in the northeastern state of Mizoram that share a porous border with Myanmar, said the official, who did not want to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.
All of the men, who are lower-ranking police officers, were unarmed, the official said. “We hope more will come,” he said, citing intelligence reports.
Several cases have been reported on social media of policemen joining the civil disobedience movement and protests against the junta, and some were arrested, but this is the first reported case of policemen fleeing Myanmar.
The official said the policemen crossed for fear of being persecuted for disobeying orders and would be temporarily housed by local Indian authorities.
“They did not want to take orders against the civil disobedience movement,” he said, referring to the unrest in Myanmar calling for the reversal of the February 1 coup and the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
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Of the 19, three Myanmar police officers crossed the border near the town of North Vanlaiphai in Serchhip district on Wednesday afternoon and authorities were assessing their health, another police officer said.
“What they said is that they received instructions from the military rulers that they cannot obey, so they fled,” Serchhip Police Superintendent Stephen Lalrinawma told Reuters.
“They are seeking refuge because of the military rule in Myanmar,” Lalrinawma said.
India shares a 1,643-kilometer land border with Myanmar, where more than 50 people have died during protests against the military coup.
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India already hosts thousands of refugees from Myanmar, including ethnic Chin and Rohingya who fled the Southeast Asian country during previous episodes of violence.
A leader of the Chin community in New Delhi said police have rarely fled to India.
“This is something unusual,” said James Fanai, chairman of the India-based Chin Refugee Committee. “Because in the past, the police and the army just followed orders.”
Myanmar’s ruling military council has stressed the importance of the police and soldiers doing their duty.
