The Young Mizo Association (YMA) urged the Mizoram government to establish relief camps in a “compact” area to accommodate Myanmar nationals who have taken shelter in the state following the military coup in the neighboring country.
According to official estimates, more than 30,300 Myanmar nationals have taken shelter in different parts of Mizoram since February 2021.
The General Secretary of the Central Young Mizo Association (CYMA) – Lalnuntluanga, noted that the association passed a resolution on Thursday, urging the state government to establish proper and “compact” relief camps for Myanmar nationals to prevent them from living scattered across the state.
He claimed that Myanmar nationals living in relief camps and villages in different parts of the state might create severe problems in the future.
The association resolved that the government should ensure that Myanmar nationals do not live in different parts of the state but only in a particular area.
A senior official of the state Home Department enquired, “How do we set up big relief camps and provide relief to the Myanmar nationals with our limited resources when financial help is not coming from the Centre? It will be a big burden for the government.”
Besides, the district-level or village-level committee dealing with the Myanmar nationals can easily manage and administer them when they live in different places.
As per the Home Department, 30,385 Myanmar nationals, including 10,013 females and 11,650 children, have taken shelter across all 11 districts of Mizoram as on October 22. Out of them, 13,210 people have been lodged in 160 relief camps, while 17,157 people live outside the relief camps.
It is worth noting that since the military takeover, more than 29,532 Myanmarese refugees have abandoned their homes and sought shelter in 11 districts of Mizoram. The majority of these refugees are Mizos with ethnic ties to Myanmar’s Chin state. Most of them are housed in refugee camps, while others reside with their relatives or in rented houses.
