Young Mizo Association urge Mizoram government to establish ‘compact’ camps for Myanmar nationals

Influential and the largest non-profit organisation of the Mizo people, the Young Mizo Association has requested the Mizoram government to establish ‘compact’ relief camps for the Myanmarese refugees who are sheltering in Mizoram following the military coup in the neighbouring country in the year 2021.

More than 30,000 Myanmar nationals have taken shelter in different parts of Mizoram since February last year, as per official estimates.

Speaking to a national daily, the general secretary of the Central Young Mizo Association (CYMA), Lalnuntluanga, revealed that a resolution was adopted at the organization's general conference on Thursday in the Saitul district to ask the state government to establish suitable and "compact" relief camps for the Myanmar nationals in order to keep them from being "scattered" throughout the state.

He warned that the presence of citizens of Myanmar in the state's various communities and assistance camps could lead to severe issues down the road.

"The meeting decided that the government should make sure that Myanmarese people only reside in one specific location and not in various sections of the state," Lalnuntluanga said.

However, a senior member of the state Home Department claimed that it was technically impossible to confine citizens of Myanmar to a certain location.

"How do we establish relief camps and offer aid to the citizens of Myanmar with our meagre means when financial assistance is not forthcoming from the Center? For the government, it will be a significant burden, the official predicted.

The government cannot consistently supply them with help, thus it is simpler for them to support themselves with daily wages from manual labour while residing in numerous locales, he claimed.

The official added that the Myanmar citizens may be readily managed and administered when they dwell in diverse locations by the district- or village-level committees dealing with them.

Another official stated that the compact relief camps will lead to different law and order issues as well as misunderstandings between the locals and the Myanmar nationals, using the example of the Brus relief camps in the North Tripura region.

As of October 22, 30,385 Myanmar citizens had sought refuge in Mizoram's 11 districts, including 10,013 women and 11,650 children, according to the Home Department.

While 17,157 of them reside outside of the relief camps, 13, 210 of them have been housed in 160 of them.

According to Home Department data, the northeastern Champhai district has the most residents from Myanmar (9,488), followed by the southerly Siaha district (7,247) and the far south Lawngtlai district (5,900).

There are 3,306 Myanmar nationals who live in Aizawl.