The Aizawl District administration of Mizoram State warned civil society groups, local councils, and village authorities, against providing assistance to the 33,505 refugees from Myanmar and the 2,217 from Bangladesh – who have taken temporary shelter in the state – in obtaining Indian identification documents.
“We have entrusted the task to respective district collectors affected by [the] refugee influx to look into the matter. However, the home department is tracking the issue,” Vanlalmawia, the Mizoram State home secretary, told the Hindustan Times newspaper. He added that his ministry is seeking assistance from New Delhi in order to prevent immigrants and refugees from acquiring Indian identity documents.
The Aizawl District administration added that refugees have no legal rights to acquire identification documents in India, such as birth certificates, tribal certificates, residential certificates, voter ID cards, as well as Aadhaar cards, which is a unique 12-digit number card linked to the holder’s biometric and demographic data.
Mizoram Home Minister K. Sapdanga claimed that most of the immigrants and refugees in his state have cultural and ethnic ties to the Mizo ethnic group of northeast India.
Fighting between Chin resistance and regime forces has displaced 160,000 residents from their homes in Myanmar since the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021. An estimated 65,000 ethnic Chin people have fled across the border into India seeking refuge, according to the Institute of Chin Affairs (ICA).
The Chin resistance now controls 15 out of 20 townships in Chinland, including the Myanmar-India border town of Rikhawdar. The regime still controls the state capital Hakha, as well as Thantlang, Tedim and Falam, which are located 22-122 miles (35-196 km) to the west and north of Hakha.
The Mizoram government issued identity cards in April 2022 to Myanmar refugees who had taken shelter in Mizoram. These ID cards include basic information along with a note that the holder is residing in Mizoram State on humanitarian grounds. It is not a voter ID card.
The 2,217 Bangladesh nationals began entering Mizoram though the 197 mile (318 km) border in November 2022, and took shelter in Lawngtlai district due to a military offensive by the Bangladeshi army against the Kuki-Chin National Army (KNA), a separatist ethnic armed group operational since 2022.
India has restricted access to the No. 2 India-Myanmar Friendship Bridge since Jan. 2. It is planning to erect a 1,020 mile (1,643 km) long “anti-cut, anti-climb” fence along its border with Myanmar within the next 10 years.
India’s 1,20 mile (1,643 km) long border with Myanmar spans 323 miles (520 km) in Arunachal Pradesh, 316 miles (510 km) in Mizoram, 247 miles (398 km) in Manipur, and 133 miles (215 km) in Nagaland.
