Mizoram Government Training District-Level Officials To Collect Biometrics & Biographic Data Of Myanmar & Bangladeshi Refugees

The Mizoram government is training district-level officials to collect biometrics and biographic data of Myanmar and Bangladeshi refugees. A home department official revealed that the process of recording this data will start this month.

In all 11 districts of Mizoram, training of district-level officials on the Foreigners Identification Portal and Biometric Enrolment is almost completed. This portal is for displaced persons from Myanmar and Bangladeshi nationals.

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Rs 38 lakh has been "earmarked" for the exercise, according to the Mizoram Home Department official. The Ministry of Home Affairs will bear the expenditure. Earlier, the MHA had asked both the Manipur and Mizoram governments to capture biographic and biometric details of "illegal migrants" in the two states and complete the process at the earliest.

In February 2021, after a military coup in Myanmar, there were around 35,000 refugees in Mizoram. Another 5,000 Myanmar refugees also took shelter in Manipur. The Manipur government has almost collected the biometric and demographic data of the refugees staying in the state. Over 2,370 Bangladeshi Bawm community tribals from Chittagong Hill Tracts have also been staying in Mizoram for over two years after they fled their country due to ethnic troubles.

According to NorthEast News, "Earlier this month, over 4,650 more Myanmar nationals—mostly women and children—fled renewed fighting between anti-junta ethnic armed groups, the Chin National Defence Force (CNDF) and Chinland Defence Force (CDF), and sought shelter in Mizoram’s Champhai district."

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According to DEFENCE.IN, "Bawm, also known as Bawmzo, are an ethnic group primarily residing in the CHT of Bangladesh. They have full ethnic and cultural resemblance with the majority of Mizos of Mizoram. The situation along the India-Myanmar border is relatively calm. The majority of the newly arrived Myanmar refugees have returned to their villages in the neighbouring country."

"Myanmar's Chin state shares 510 km of mountainous borders with six Mizoram districts they are Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Hnahthial, Saitual and Serchhip. Mizoram's three districts, Mamit, Lunglei and Lawngtlai, share a 318 km long border with Bangladesh," according to DEFENCE.IN.