According to an official on Monday, almost 1,900 refugees who are now residing in Mizoram have been enlisted in the ongoing biometric enrollment process for individuals from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
According to him, the biometric enrollment process for the approximately 3,000 Bangladeshis from the Chittagong Hill Tracts and the more than 32,000 Myanmar nationals who have sought refuge in the state’s 11 districts started in a few districts on July 28 and was completed in the majority of the districts on July 30 and 31.
Due to technological difficulties and inadequate internet connectivity in distant places, the exercise is moving slowly forward, he said. According to the official, as of Friday, district administrations have collected the demographic and biometric information of 1,947 refugees in 11 districts. “District officials faced inconvenience for children who study in Aizawl or outside the district where their parents currently took shelter,” he said, despite the fact that it is easier to obtain biometric and biographic data of refugees sheltering in relief camps.
According to him, the enrollment process could not be accelerated for refugees who reside outside of relief camps, particularly those who rent homes or live with friends or family. The state home department reports that 32,504 Myanmar refugees are currently seeking safety in Mizoram’s 11 districts, with 13,586 of them residing in the Champhai district.
According to officials, the number fluctuates nearly daily because some refugees have a propensity of returning to Mizoram after visiting their home country.
Only seven people have been enrolled thus far because of technical issues with the electronic equipment, despite the fact that the enrollment process was started on July 31 in Champhai district, which has taken in the greatest number of Myanmar refugees, they claimed.
According to the district administration, the exercise should function well starting this week after they picked up new gadgets from Aizawl on Saturday. According to the home department, almost 2,000 Bangladeshi refugees also sought refuge in the Lawngtlai region of south Mizoram, 266 in Serchhip, and 63 in Lunglei.
Asylum seekers from Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts arrived in the state after a military attack against an ethnic insurgent organization in 2022, while Myanmar nationals, primarily from Chin state, fled to Mizoram after a military takeover in the neighboring country in February 2021. The Mizos have close ethnic relations to the Bawm tribe of Bangladesh and the Chins of Myanmar.