Will continue to provide relief to Myanmar, B'desh, Manipur people: Mizoram

The Mizoram government will continue to provide relief to over 42,000 people from Myanmar, Bangladesh and Manipur who have taken shelter in the state, Home Minister K Sapdanga told the assembly on Monday.

Replying to a question, he said the number of asylum seekers from Myanmar and Bangladesh, and those who have come here from Manipur keep changing, and it was difficult to maintain a record on a daily basis.

According to the latest record of the Home Department, there are 9,248 people from Manipur, 32,161 people from Myanmar and 1,167 from Bangladesh in the state, he said.

"We will continue to provide relief to asylum seekers from Myanmar and Bangladesh, and internally displaced people from Manipur on humanitarian grounds as much as we can," Sapdanga said, replying to the question asked by MNF MLA K Laldawngliana.

He said the Centre provided Rs 3 crore to the previous Mizo National Front (MNF) government for the assistance of the people from Myanmar, Bangladesh and Manipur.

Last week, Chief Minister Lalduhoma had said that the state government was handling the influx of people with its available resources.

Those from Myanmar started fleeing to the state after the military junta seized power in February 2021. The Bangladeshis fled to Mizoram in November 2022 after the army of that country began an offensive against an ethnic insurgent group in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT).

The Kuki-Zo people from Manipur took refuge in Mizoram after the ethnic violence began in the neighbouring state in May last year.

The Chin people of Myanmar, the Bawm community of Bangladesh and the Kuki-Zo people of Manipur share ethnic ties with Mizos.