Centre Asks North-eastern States to Block Inflow of People from Trouble-torn Myanmar

The ministry of home affairs has asked the north-eastern states to stop the influx of people from Myanmar. A letter written by an MHA deputy secretary rank officer to the chief secretaries of Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and to the director general of Assam Rifles asks them “to stay alert and take appropriate action to prevent a possible influx into Indian Territory”.

The letter written on March 10 cites a previous advisory from 2017 which asked state and union territory administrations to sensitise law enforcement and intelligence agencies “to take prompt steps in identifying the illegal migrants and initiate the deportation process expeditiously and without delay”. The letter notes that it has now been reported that an illegal influx from Myanmar has started.

The directive to state governments assumes significance in light of Myanmar authorities asking their Mizoram counterparts to hand over nationals, particularly policemen, who have crossed over in the past few days.

Myanmar’s military last month grabbed power in a coup against the civilian government and imposed a state of emergency after detaining Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD). Since then the country has witnessed a wave of protests.

On March 9, the deputy commissioner of Falam district in Myanmar had written to his counterpart in Champhai, Mizoram, asking for the handover of the Myanmarese nationals who had crossed over. The letter had names of the personnel and also photographs attached. “It is to inform that according to inputs received from resources 8 police personnel from Myanmar police force were runaway towards Indian Territory. Among them 4 police personnel have arrived in Aizawl, Mizoram and following while 4 others fled to Champhai, Mizoram…” the letter accessed by News18 says. It then cites bilateral relations between the two countries to seek a handover of those who have crossed over. “In order to uphold friendly relations between the two neighbor countries, you are kindly requested to detain 8 Myanmar police personnel and hand over to Myanmar,” deputy commissioner Dalam said.

There is popular support for the fleeing Myanmar nationals in border areas of Mizoram and Manipur. Student bodies and popular icons have come out on social media to support Myanmar civilians protesting against the Junta. The state governments have also said that they are willing to accommodate the refugees if the Centre permits. But the MHA directive of March 10 says, “State governments and UT administrations have no power to grant refugee status to any foreigner and India is not a signatory to UN Refugee convention of 1951 and its 1967 protocol. In view of the above you are requested as per law to check illegal influx from Myanmar to India.”

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