Aizawl, Aug 19 (PTI): Hundreds of people from Myanmar crossed over to India over the last few days after a fresh bout of violence rocked the neighbouring country’s Chin state, a local leader said.
Zokhawthar village council president Lalmuanpuia told PTI that hundreds of people from Myanmar entered Mizoram since Sunday.
The latest crisis was triggered by the Myanmar army torching Haimual village in that country’s Chin state and “abducting” five people, including two children of the leader of a civil defence force, on Sunday, he said.
Haimual village is about 7 km away from Zokhawthar, the first border village in Mizoram’s Champhai district.
The violence at Haimual and the recent attack on the Myanmar army camp in Khawmawi have triggered the fresh influx from the neighbouring country to Zokhawthar and surrounding villages, Lalmuanpuia said.
The state Home Department could not be reached immediately to confirm the number of Myanmar nationals who crossed over to India since Sunday.
Thousands of people from Myanmar fled to Mizoram after February last year when the Myanmar Army took power through a coup.
The Myanmar nationals are taking shelter in different parts of Mizoram and provided with food and other relief by the state government, NGOs, students’ bodies, churches and village authorities.
Around 156 makeshift relief camps have been set up across the state, official sources said.
Most of the Myanmar nationals are from Chin state and share ethnicity with the Mizos. The majority of them live in relief camps, while others are accommodated by their local relatives, and some live in rented houses.
Six Mizoram districts — Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Serchhip, Hnahthial and Saitual — share a 510-km-long international border with Myanmar’s Chin state.