Fierce clashes have broken out in Myanmar between two armed groups opposing the military junta. Amid the ongoing conflict, thousands of refugees from the country have fled to India’s northeastern state of Mizoram to save their lives. This information was reported by British news agency Reuters on Monday, citing Indian authorities.
An Indian senior security official told Reuters that on July 2, clashes erupted between two rival groups — the Chin National Defense Force (CNDF) and the Chinland Defense Force-Hualngram (CDF-H) — over control of strategic areas in Myanmar’s northwestern Chin State. Since that day, thousands of refugees from Chin State have started crossing the border into Mizoram.
The official, who declined to be named due to not being authorized to speak to the media, said that since the start of the clashes in Chin State, around 4,000 refugees have crossed the border into Mizoram.
Chin State in Myanmar shares a border with India’s Mizoram state in areas controlled by rival groups. Residents of Mizoram and Myanmar’s Chin community share ethnic ties. Since the February 2021 military coup that overthrew the government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, Mizoram has been sheltering thousands of refugees.
Mizoram’s Home Minister K. Sapdanga confirmed the arrival of the new refugees from Myanmar in the state. However, he said the number of refugees coming from Myanmar might be around 3,000.
Sapdanga said, “This conflict in Chin State is beyond our control. People have come here, and from a humanitarian perspective, we are obliged to provide them with water, food, and shelter.”
The Indian security official said that as of Sunday night, a total of 3,980 refugees had been registered in the villages of Zokhawthar and Saikhumphai in Champhai district of the state.
He added that this figure is preliminary and continues to change. Initially, only a few people came, but as the clashes intensified and spread closer to the border, more and more people started arriving.
Reuters reported that attempts to contact a spokesperson from Myanmar’s junta government by phone went unanswered.
