Mizoram Shelters Over 30 More Bangladeshi Tribal Refugees After Military Attack

Aizawl: Following a military attack in Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), over 30 tribal individuals—including 16 children and four women—fled to Mizoram, officials reported here on Friday.

According to a Mizoram Home Department official, in the past two days, tribal members of the Bawm clan of ethnic Mizos from two CHT villages—Kersetlang and Pankhiang—have crossed a forested hill close to the Mizoram boundary and entered Hruitezawl village in Lawngtlai district.

According to the official, the Assam Rifles forces brought the Bangladeshi nationals to a camp in Tuithumhnar village after they had entered Indian territory. There, the paramilitary force gave them food and shelter.

Up until December of last year, 2,014 CHT members had sought refuge in the Lawngtlai district, which is bordered by Bangladesh and Myanmar without a fence. Approximately 5,930 Myanmar nationals and 84 displaced tribal people from Manipur, which has been devastated by conflict, are also currently living in the border district.

Following the reported attacks and atrocities committed by the Bangladeshi army against the Kuki-Chin National Army (KNA), an ethnic insurgent organisation vying for an independent state for the tribal people, the CHT's Bangladeshi members began seeking refuge in Lawngtlai since November 2022.

Lalmuanpuia Punte, an MLA of the ruling Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) and political advisor to Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma, previously stated that the state government is considering the idea of moving and consolidating the Bangladeshi refugees into four villages in the Lawngtlai district rather than dispersing them among various villages.

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