Aizawl, Jun 3 : One winter evening Aye Aye Win, carrying a small bag, left Thantlang town in Chivninno west Myanmar and crossed over to Champhai in Mizoram to escape harassment by Myanmarese military informers.
The Myanmarese junta were after her because she was actively involved in the pro-democracy movement led by Suu Kyi.A student leader, Win can now relax in Mizoram as the Chins and Mizos share a common physical appearance and have the same food habits and linguistic accent.
There are many Myanmarese who entered this tiny hilly north eastern Indian state illegally, though the state government claims that there were only 43 Myanmarese nationals in Mizoram who have refugee status.
For the past twenty years, Mizoram, having a population of about nine lakh has been hosting a Myanmarese population estimated at 70,000 to 100,000, according to Julien Levesque and Mirza Zulfiqur Rahman, researchers at the Guwahati-based Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies.
According to them, Myanmarese migrants could be classified into two — refugees, who were settled in Mizoram and migrants, who came and went in search of economic opportunities.
The influx of Myanmarese nationals through the porous 404-kilometre international border not only endangered the demographic balance of the small population in the state, but also posed danger of the spread of HIV/AIDS and increased drug trafficking from the infamous Golden Triangle, they said.
Women League of Chinland coordinator Cherry Jahau candidly admitted that they had migrated to Mizoram illegally. “There was no law to abide by. What we need is legal protection.”
At a seminar on ‘Burmese refugees and migrants in Mizoram’ organised by the Young Mizo Association (YMA) here recently, Jahau claimed that Mynamarese migrants in Mizoram were ‘political refugees’.
“They left their country in fear of the military junta. It is sad that nobody is even keeping a register of how many people flee their country. By ignoring these people, we are ignoring major humanitarian issues from forced labour to religious persecution of Christians,” she said.
Another speaker Suanmoi Gangte, Secretary of the Zo Human Rights Global Network, said that over 60,000 Myanmarese migrants in Mizoram were seeking ‘legal protection’ from the state government.
Gangte urged the YMA and the state government to forward their plight to the Centre to arrange refugee status for Myanmarese migrants in Mizoram.
Development programmes like the proposed Kaladan Multi Modal Transport Project to link Mizoram from Sittwe port in Myanmar through inland waterways ightprove beneficial so far as Indian citizens were concerned, Jahau said.
“But they will only increase forced labour and forceful confiscation of land from the ethnic tribes in Burma,” she said, adding, “What we want is sustainable development for the people which is impossible until and unless democracy is restored. Let democracy come first in Burma.”
The real danger, however, lay in the demographic imbalance the immigration might create in this small state which could trigger unrest like the incident of rape of a minor by a Myanmarese national in 2003.
Around 10,000 Myanmarese nationals were forced to return to their country by irate and xenophobic Mizo youths after the incident.
A leader of the YMA shared this fear saying “A regular exodus of Myanmarese to Mizoram. Such migrants are looking for jobs to earn their living and the local population is using them as domestic help and cheap labour on construction projects and various other activities,” he said.
“A small state with a population of less than 10 lakh, if added to by such unregistered migrants begged for a situation that Assam is currently facing,” he added.
State Chief Minister Zoramthanga, while expressing concern over the increasing criminalactivitiethe state’s porous border with Myanmar and Bangladesh, urged Union Home Minister Shivraj increasing criminal activities along the state’s porous border with Myanmar and Bangladesh, urged Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil at a meeting in New Delhi in March 2006 to take effective steps to curb cross-border crime.
Zoramthanga also highlighted the presence of Myanmarese insurgents and the frequent influx of illegal migrants from that country.
PTI
The Myanmarese junta were after her because she was actively involved in the pro-democracy movement led by Suu Kyi.A student leader, Win can now relax in Mizoram as the Chins and Mizos share a common physical appearance and have the same food habits and linguistic accent.
There are many Myanmarese who entered this tiny hilly north eastern Indian state illegally, though the state government claims that there were only 43 Myanmarese nationals in Mizoram who have refugee status.
For the past twenty years, Mizoram, having a population of about nine lakh has been hosting a Myanmarese population estimated at 70,000 to 100,000, according to Julien Levesque and Mirza Zulfiqur Rahman, researchers at the Guwahati-based Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies.
According to them, Myanmarese migrants could be classified into two — refugees, who were settled in Mizoram and migrants, who came and went in search of economic opportunities.
The influx of Myanmarese nationals through the porous 404-kilometre international border not only endangered the demographic balance of the small population in the state, but also posed danger of the spread of HIV/AIDS and increased drug trafficking from the infamous Golden Triangle, they said.
Women League of Chinland coordinator Cherry Jahau candidly admitted that they had migrated to Mizoram illegally. “There was no law to abide by. What we need is legal protection.”
At a seminar on ‘Burmese refugees and migrants in Mizoram’ organised by the Young Mizo Association (YMA) here recently, Jahau claimed that Mynamarese migrants in Mizoram were ‘political refugees’.
“They left their country in fear of the military junta. It is sad that nobody is even keeping a register of how many people flee their country. By ignoring these people, we are ignoring major humanitarian issues from forced labour to religious persecution of Christians,” she said.
Another speaker Suanmoi Gangte, Secretary of the Zo Human Rights Global Network, said that over 60,000 Myanmarese migrants in Mizoram were seeking ‘legal protection’ from the state government.
Gangte urged the YMA and the state government to forward their plight to the Centre to arrange refugee status for Myanmarese migrants in Mizoram.
Development programmes like the proposed Kaladan Multi Modal Transport Project to link Mizoram from Sittwe port in Myanmar through inland waterways ightprove beneficial so far as Indian citizens were concerned, Jahau said.
“But they will only increase forced labour and forceful confiscation of land from the ethnic tribes in Burma,” she said, adding, “What we want is sustainable development for the people which is impossible until and unless democracy is restored. Let democracy come first in Burma.”
The real danger, however, lay in the demographic imbalance the immigration might create in this small state which could trigger unrest like the incident of rape of a minor by a Myanmarese national in 2003.
Around 10,000 Myanmarese nationals were forced to return to their country by irate and xenophobic Mizo youths after the incident.
A leader of the YMA shared this fear saying “A regular exodus of Myanmarese to Mizoram. Such migrants are looking for jobs to earn their living and the local population is using them as domestic help and cheap labour on construction projects and various other activities,” he said.
“A small state with a population of less than 10 lakh, if added to by such unregistered migrants begged for a situation that Assam is currently facing,” he added.
State Chief Minister Zoramthanga, while expressing concern over the increasing criminalactivitiethe state’s porous border with Myanmar and Bangladesh, urged Union Home Minister Shivraj increasing criminal activities along the state’s porous border with Myanmar and Bangladesh, urged Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil at a meeting in New Delhi in March 2006 to take effective steps to curb cross-border crime.
Zoramthanga also highlighted the presence of Myanmarese insurgents and the frequent influx of illegal migrants from that country.
PTI
0 comments:
Post a Comment