219 Myanmarese refugees deported

The Lawngtlai district administration and the Assam Rifles have deported 219 refugees from Myanmar, who had taken shelter in Mizoram's Hmawngbuchhuah village, a top district official said on Wednesday.

Lawngtlai Deputy Commissioner Shashanka Ala told PTI that the "mission" (deportation) was accomplished on Tuesday as directed by the Centre.

"All the refugees have reached the other side of the border from Laitlang village in Mizoram to Vairang village in Myanmar...on Tuesday," she said.

The deportation of the Myanmarese nationals was undertaken by the Lawngtlai district administration and the Assam Rifles authorities.

A senior Assam Rifles official said the Myanmar army had agreed to cooperate when a flag meeting was held between the armed forces of the two countries on Sunday last, but refused to do so on Wednesday.

Not a single official from Myanmar came forward even when the Assam Rifles personnel, Lawngtlai district administration officials and police arrived with the refugees at Varang village in the neighbouring country, near the boundary post number eight, the official said.

"No Myanmarese soldier came to receive the deported refugees at Varang village as agreed earlier and the soldiers remained at their outpost," he added.

On June 15, the first attempt to deport the refugees in the presence of Lawngtlai district administration officials, Assam Rifles and police personnel and representatives of an NGO failed due to "inclement weather" and "humanitarian" reasons, the officials said, adding that the Centre had instructed the state government and the Assam Rifles to deport the refugees.

Over 1,700 refugees from Paletwa and surrounding villages in Myanmar fled the country in November 2017, entered Mizoram and took shelter in four villages of Lawngtlai district along the border areas due to an armed conflict between the Myanmar Army and the Arakan Army (AA) militants.

While most of the refugees have returned to their homeland after the Myanmar Army sanitised the area, some of them refused to go back and settled down by constructing houses and taking up livelihood opportunities.