“I fear some of them might have died,” C Lalmuanthanga, Village Council President of Vathuampui, a village in Lawngtlai District in Mizoram, told EastMojo over the phone. Over 200 Bangladeshi Chin refugees, fleeing ethnic conflict in Chittagong Hill Tracts, had attempted to enter India through its bordering state of Mizoram on June 16, 2024, and were pushed back by the Border Security Forces.
Some refugees, which included children and senior citizens, were quite ill after their traverse through the forest and had to be given medical aid by the BSF personnel.
‘Nowhere to go’
Despite Mizoram’s warm welcome to refugees from Myanmar, the state has remained a silent witness to the forced return of the refugees from Bangladesh. The ruling government, the Zoram Peoples Movement, has come under strong criticism from the former ruling party, the Mizo National Front (MNF) for its silence.
“The BSF gave them food and medical aid and sent them back to the jungle. I called the local YMA group and asked them to look for the refugees, they sent three people to look for them but we have not heard any reports of their sightings till now. It hurts me that they have come here fleeing for their lives but we pushed them back to danger,” said the Vathuampui Village Council President.
From the pictures that have been shared with EastMojo, the BSF personnel can be seen giving medical aid to the aged and women who had grown ill and weak after the long journey. Many children can be seen sitting on the floor and having their meals on banana leaves.
The issue came to light when the former ruling party and now opposition party put out a statement condemning the government for its lack of response. An MNF spokesperson said, “These persons are currently taking shelter in the forests, fearing a return to their homeland.” He pointed out that when Zoramthanga was the Chief Minister, he had vehemently opposed the pushback of Bangladeshi refugees, declaring, “We are against holding back our brethren.”
A BSF official, speaking to EastMojo on the condition of anonymity, said, “The BSF does not endorse refugees and it has always been a necessity to push them back. We can confirm that there were indeed people who were pushed back after they were given food.”
According to official sources, the total number of Bangladeshi Chin refugees taking shelter in Mizoram as of June is around 1,901, comprising 505 women and 810 children.
Caught in the crossfire
The majority of these refugees belong to the Kuki-Chin community, primarily the Bawm and Pang tribes, who are fleeing due to conflict between the Bangladesh army and the Kuki-Chin National Army (KNA), which is fighting for greater autonomy for tribals in the CHT. The Bawm tribe is part of a larger ethnic group known as the Lai, referred to as Chin in Myanmar and Pawi in India.
A Mizo professor on the condition of anonymity condemned the act of sending back the refugees saying it is an “inhuman” response from a democratic country. He said, “The response of the Central and State governments is unfortunate, and this politicisation of refugees is tragic in the sense of how the central govt seems to pursue a policy of selective welcoming (acceptance) and refusal (deportation). From media reports and images that are being circulated, the refugees are predominantly women, children and the aged. It is simply inhuman to deny refuge and one cannot think of a democratic country responding by deporting them back. It is simply tragic.”
He also condemned the state government for ignoring the Chin refugees crisis saying, “At the Mizoram level, the action of the political leadership and ruling government is a betrayal to the Zo ethnic kins of CHTs. Given the long history of violent subjugation tribal communities have endured including the Zo ethnic groups, the least the Mizoram government could do is to provide support and aid, and re-affirm their shared history and identity. As of now, the Govt of Mizoram seems to be looking the other way by ignoring the crisis, while the need of the hour is to act and provide safe refuge to the refugees.”
Why are authorities mum on the matter?
When EastMojo contacted an official from the state Home Department, they stated that no reports had been received and no official initiatives were currently underway. Additionally, there has been no official undertaking from the Central Young Mizo Association (CYMA). When asked if CYMA plans to take any initiatives, CYMA President Lalhmachhuana responded, “We have spoken to the relevant authorities.”
Last year in January 2023, a pastor of the Bangladesh Tribal Baptist Church, Sawmkhup who was one among a group of over 500 seeking refuge in India had died of extreme hunger in the jungle. Sawmkhup who was a senior citizen of around 70 years old, was a part of a group of over 500 people who had fled from their village of Cheikhiang in Bangladesh.
Lalrammuana Renthlei, Secretary of the Refugee Organizing Committee in Parva village, had informed EastMojo that refugees attempting to cross the border were stopped by BSF personnel. As a result, they were forced to live in the jungle, where they ran out of food. Tragically, Sawmkhup lost his life due to extreme hunger just seven hours away from the last village in Mizoram on the Indian side of the border.
According to a report from a CHT-based online news portal, Hill Voice, in April 2024, 54 men and women of the Bawm tribe, the majority group among the refugees fleeing to India, were arrested in “so-called operations of joint forces” following a bank robbery and weapons looting by the KNF (Kuki-Chin National Front). The arrested included pregnant women, university students, teachers, labourers and government employees. They reported that many innocent civilians were getting arrested in the name of operations against KNF terrorists.
On June 10, 2024, the Bawm community held a protest rally forming a human chain in the Bandarban district in Bangladesh. They demanded a stop to the troubles caused by the Kuki Chin National Front (KNF).
Speakers at the rally said there was a severe disruption to normal life for the Bawm community due to increasing terrorist activities by the KNF. They stressed that many Bawm villages were now deserted, with hundreds of people fleeing the area and that the education of students at all levels was disrupted with daily socio-economic activities and livelihoods also hampered.
Saying that the community was facing hunger and malnutrition, with the KNF’s actions directly responsible for their suffering, the rally speakers demanded that the KNF take responsibility for these hardships and urged them to return stolen government arms and cease their terrorist activities. They called for the KNF to abandon their “unrealistic ambitions” and return to normal life, emphasising that their actions are only leading to social degradation, economic destruction, and harm to the Bawm community.
Also Read: Contrarians: Why many Mizoram youths support fencing the border
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