Guwahati: Nearly 3,000 refugees from Myanmar who had recently crossed into Mizoram have returned to their villages following a ceasefire agreement between rival Chin rebel groups, a senior police officer said on Thursday.
According to officials, over 4,500 Myanmar nationals had entered Mizoram and taken shelter in the border villages of Zokhawthar, Saikhumphai, and Vaiphai in Champhai district earlier this month, after clashes erupted between the Chin National Defence Force (CNDF) and the Chinland Defence Force (CDF), both backed by the Chin National Army (CNA).
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The refugees had fled from various villages in Myanmar’s Chin state, which shares a porous 510-km border with Mizoram.
As per police sources, 2,923 refugees from Zokhawthar and 39 from Vaiphai have returned to Myanmar as of Wednesday. The return movement began on July 7 and increased significantly after July 12, following the ceasefire between the warring groups.
The situation along the Indo-Myanmar border is currently calm, and authorities anticipate more refugees may return in the coming days.
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The CNDF and CDF, both fighting Myanmar’s military junta, were involved in clashes in early July. Retaliatory attacks by the CNA on a CNDF camp in Rihli village had triggered an additional influx of more than 700 refugees into Saikhumphai and Vaiphai.
Mizoram has hosted over 32,000 Myanmar refugees since the military coup in February 2021. The state government has announced plans to begin collecting biometric and demographic data of refugees by the end of July for identification purposes.
Most of the refugees are from the Chin ethnic group, which shares close ethnic and cultural ties with the Mizos in Mizoram.