New Delhi: A member of Parliament from the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF), an ally of the BJP, has urged the Narendra Modi government to not deport refugees from Myanmar who flee to the Northeastern states. He said sending the Myanmarese refugees back would not go down well with the people of Mizoram.
“We have never said that the Indian government must offer them full-time citizenship or employment. The only thing we ask is for the Centre to let these refugees stay until their country returns to normalcy,” Rajya Sabha MP K. Vanlalvena told ThePrint Wednesday.
Mizoram shares a 510-km border with Myanmar, and the state is bracing up for refugees due to the unrest prevailing in the neighbouring country following the military coup last month.
Vanlalvena had told the Rajya Sabha Tuesday that nearly 300 refugees had crossed over while urging the Centre to consider their plight. “Over 300 Myanmar nationals have crossed the border, including 150 police personnel who favoured the pro-democracy protesters,” the MP said in Parliament.
Speaking to ThePrint Wednesday, he said: “The refugees are not fleeing out of their own will. The government cannot be insensitive to their plight.”
He added: “So many people including NGOs are coming out to help the refugees and provide them with food, shelter and aid. There are small children and women. There is no way we can send them back like this, they are family.”
The MP also said most Myanmarese share ethnic ties with the people of Mizoram.
“They are our brothers and sisters. They belong to the Chin ethnic group and are related to the dominant Mizos there,” he said. “We are the same hilly people, comprising the tribes of Lai, Tedim-Zomi, Lusei, Natu and Hualngo. Most of us are related to them, we follow the same religion, so how can we turn our backs on them?”
Centre calls for deportation
The Ministry of Home Affairs has, however, sent a letter to the four border states — Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram — and the Assam Rifles, asking them to identify Myanmar nationals fleeing the coup and deport them.
This, after Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga had assured the refugees that they would be provided food and shelter.
In the letter dated 10 March, the MHA reiterated that state governments have no powers to give “refugee status to any foreigner”, and that India is not a signatory to the United Nations Refugee Convention of 1951 and its 1967 Protocol.
Vanlalvena told ThePrint that he will speak to Home Minister Amit Shah on the matter. “I tried meeting him recently but due to the West Bengal elections, he was packed with a busy schedule,” the MP said. “The CM also spoke to Amit Shah on this but then the MHA letter was sent to deport the refugees. This won’t be agreed upon by Mizo people.”
According to Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), an activist group, at least 202 people have been killed by security forces in the weeks of protests against the military coup in Myanmar as of Tuesday. Nearly 20 were shot dead Monday, 71 on Sunday, and two on Tuesday, the group has claimed.
“As of 16 March, a total of 2,181 people have been arrested, charged or sentenced in relation to the attempted military coup on 1 February,” the AAPP said in a statement released Tuesday.
(Edited by Arun Prashanth)
Also read: UNSC condemns violence against peaceful protestors in Myanmar, calls for reversal of coup
We are Related by Blood and One in Christ.
I can’t accept a (Myanmar) government that made our brothers (in Myanmar) live in fear. We shall share our love till the very last grain… So, Government of India, Sorry to disappoint you… we will never sent our brothers back until condition is favorable. This bonds cannot be separated by political boundaries. If India wouldn’t accept or brothers Mizoram Will… You may have the power but we have the heart.
Mizo groups have freedom and liberty to profess what ever religious they wish so as any other Indians. The MP too have constitutional right to raise the issue concerning his constituency. It is in the deposition of MHA to act or not.Many refugees are now at Delhi and taken care by MHA with the funding from UN. The same could also be done at Indian states Bordering sMyanmar if there is a will on the part of the Centre.
what is this charity? we can’t solve poverty for our own people, now we are to take in this load. no thanks. go back.
But this doesn’t mean India should spoil relations with neighbouring country. We have to return them to myanmar.Moreover these communal brotherhood is absolutely not to accepted as Mizoram MP trying to show. Just because you North East people are inter connected to each other doesn’t mean we would spoil our relation with maynmar .
But this doesn’t mean India should spoil relations with neighbouring country. We have to return them to myanmar.Moreover these communal brotherhood is absolutely not to accepted as Mizoram MP trying to show. Just because you North East people are inter connected to each other doesn’t mean we would spoil our relation with maynmar .
If Burmese fleeing the coup – this includes conscientious policemen who have refused to fire on peaceful demonstrators – are sent back to their deaths / incarceration, that will invite global opprobrium and censure. Including from the three other members of Quad.
Mizo groups are Christian missionaries, Indians should never support these Snti National missionaries.