Mizoram: Two more Myanmarese soldiers enter state

Two more Myanmarese soldiers entered Mizoram after militia group People's Defence Force (PDF) overran their camp in the neighbouring country's Chin state, a police officer said on Wednesday. 

The two Myanmarese soldiers entered Mizoram and came to the Zokhawthar police station on Tuesday evening, the officer said. 

"The Myanmarese soldiers were handed over to the Assam Rifles as per the Centre's directive and all of them have been airlifted to a safer place by Indian defence authorities," he told PTI on condition of anonymity. 

With these, a total of 45 Myanmarese soldiers have fled to Mizoram, the police officer said He said that in the first place, 39 soldiers crossed the international border and came to Zokhawthar police station along with their arms on Monday evening. 

Also Read: Mizoram: Assam Rifles sends back 43 surrendered Myanmar army soldiers back home

Three more came to Zokhawthar police station on Tuesday noon and two others in the evening, he said. The officer said that 39 soldiers were airlifted to a safer place by Assam Rifles on Tuesday and the remaining 6 have also been evacuated to a safer place on Wednesday. 

An official of the state Home Department said that the Myanmarese soldiers were airlifted from the Champhai district to Moreh, a border town in Manipur, from where they were sent to Tamu, the nearest Myanmarese town from Moreh. 

The police officer said that the situation along the Indo-Myanmar border now is calm as there are no more clashes between the Myanmar army and the People's Defence Force (PDF). "The situation as of now is calm and we expect normalcy to return along the Indo-Myanmar border in the next two to three days. At the same time it is difficult to predict the future," he said. Officials said around 5,000 people from Khawimawi, Rihkhawdar and neighbouring villages in Myanmar's Chin state have fled and sought shelter in Zokhawthar following gunfight between the Myanmar army and PDF. 

Champhai Deputy Commissioner James Lalrinchhana said that the gunfight began on Sunday evening and continued till Monday evening after the PDF attacked two military camps at Khawmawi and Rihkhawdar in Chin state close to the Indian border. Mizoram shares a 510-km-long porous international border with Myanmar. 

The northeastern state has hosted more than 31,000 refugees from the neighbouring country, who fled after the military coup in February 2021, before the recent clashes. The Myanmar nationals, who took shelter in Mizoram, are of the Chin community. The Chins and Mizos belong to the same Zo ethnic group.