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Mizoram Awaits Centre's Approval To Initiate Biometric Enrollment For Myanmar Refugees

  • By Thetripurapost Desk, Aizwal
  • Jun 19, 2024
  • 178

The Mizoram government is awaiting the Centre's directive to carry out biometric registration of over 33,000 Myanmar refugees in the state, a state home department official said.The officer said that a new biometric registration portal has been prepared.

He said "We are waiting for instructions from the Centre. As soon as we get the instructions, we will start collecting biometric data of Myanmar citizens."

Earlier, Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma had said that the biometric registration portal for collecting the data has been prepared and will be used in the near future.

The Union Home Ministry had directed Mizoram and Manipur, which share the border with Myanmar, to carry out biometric registration of 'illegal immigrants' in the states and collect their information. In June last year, the ministry had directed the states to complete this campaign by September and directed both the states to prepare a plan and start the registration process.

The Mizoram government had initially conducted training and appointed nodal officers as per the Centre's directions, but the cabinet during its meeting in September last year decided not to carry out biometric and biographic registration for Myanmar refugees, saying it was inadvisable due to the state assembly elections scheduled in November that year.

Lalduhoma said Myanmar and Bangladeshi nationals taking refuge in the state feared being sent back to their home country in view of the Centre's directive to collect their biometric data.

The Chief Minister said that in a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in January, he had assured that no refugee would be sent back to their country until peace was restored in the neighbouring countries.

According to the state home department, a total of 33,835 Myanmar nationals, including 12,901 children, have taken refuge in various parts of Mizoram. Champhai district has the highest number of Myanmar refugees at 14,212.