Mizoram CM Discusses State Issues and Refugee Aid with Home Minister Amit Shah.

The Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma, currently in Delhi, has engaged in a series of meetings with key Union Ministers to address various state-related issues and development plans. During his visit, he met with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, and DoNER and Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

An official from the Chief Minister’s office in Aizawl reported that the Union Home Minister assured the Chief Minister of support for refugees in the state. Shah also informed Chief Minister Lalduhoma that the Assam Rifles battalion would be relocated from central Aizawl to the proposed new headquarters at Zokhawsang, approximately 15 kilometers east of the capital.

In their discussions, the Chief Minister submitted a memorandum to the Home Minister detailing the damages caused by Cyclone Remal in May-June. Shah assured that a central team would be dispatched for verification, and financial assistance would be provided based on their report.

Since the military junta’s takeover in Myanmar on February 1, 2021, around 34,000 people, including women, elderly, and children, have sought refuge in 11 districts of Mizoram. Additionally, over 1,900 Bangladeshi refugees, including 505 women and 810 children, have taken refuge in Mizoram since November 2022 due to ethnic unrest in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The state is also sheltering approximately 9,000 members of the Kuki-Zomi-Hmar tribe displaced by ethnic conflict in neighboring Manipur since May last year.

These refugees from Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Manipur share close ethnic ties and cultural similarities with the Mizos of Mizoram. They are currently residing in relief camps or with relatives and friends across the state. Mizoram shares 518 kilometers and 318 kilometers of unfenced borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh, respectively.