Aizawl: Mizoram Rajya Sabha member K. Vanlalvena said that the ethnic Mizo refugees from Bangladesh who fled armed conflict are being pushed back from the India-Bangladesh border by the Border Security Force (BSF), which guards the border.
During a meeting of all party leaders on Monday, Vanlalvena said that refugees, who fled their homes in Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) due to military offensive against an ethnic insurgent group by the Bangladesh army, be allowed to enter and take shelter India on humanitarian grounds.
“Many Bangladeshi refugees are prevented from entering India and are pushed back from the border by BSF,” he told the meeting held in view of the budget session, which begins from Tuesday.
He appealed to the Centre that the security forces should be directed to allow the refugees to enter Mizoram.
Vanlalvena also said that the armed conflict between the Bangladesh army and Kuki-Chin National Army (KNA), an ethnic insurgent group that demands separate state, is still going on and both sides also had a gunfight recently.
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He said also pointed out that thousands of refugees from Myanmar have also been taking shelter in Mizoram since the Myanmar military junta seized power through a coup in February 2021.
More than 300 Kuki-Chin refugees from Bangladesh are currently taking refuge in south Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district.
Mizoram shares a 318-km long border with Bangladesh.
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