Refugee Crisis of Kuki Chin Community

                                Refugee Crisis of Kuki Chin Community

Why in the News?

Another risk of refugee crisis is rising over Mizoram-Bangladesh border, as several members of the Kuki-Chin community were “pushed back” by the Border Security Force (BSF).

 

About Kuki Chins:

1. The Chins of Myanmar, the Mizos of Mizoram and the Kukis of Bangladesh are of the same ancestry and belong to the Kuki ethnic group.
2. This Kuki Ethnic group is native to the Mizo hills.
3. Collectively they are known as the Zo people.
4. The Kuki Chin people are settled in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
5. It is the only extensive hill area in Bangladesh, that lies in the south-eastern part of the country.
6. It borders Myanmar on the southeast, Tripura on the north, Mizoram on the east and the Chittagong district in the west.
7. Mizoram shares a 318-km stretch of international border with Bangladesh.

Why are these Kuki people escaping to Mizoram?

1. Already, since 2021, around 30,000 Kuki Chin refugees from Myanmar have sought shelter in Mizoram.
2. They have been escaping the crackdown by the military junta in Myanmar and identity-loss in Bangladesh.

Roots of their insurgency:

1. Conflict over the ethnic identity is the main reason of insurgency.
2. Also, there was a long coming demand for self-determination solely for groups belonging to their ethnic fabric, meaning the dream to form a Kukiland.
3. The 2^nd reason for insurgency lies in the inter-community conflicts between the Kukis and the Nagas in Manipur.
4. The Kuki-Naga conflict was started over securing identity and land as some Kuki-inhabited areas coincided with Naga-inhabited areas.
5. Wanting to dominate trade and cultural activities in those areas the two communities often engaged in violent standoffs, with villages being torched, civilians killed and so on.

What is India’s Stand?

1. The authorities are prepared to handle the inflow.
2. India would be extending help and shelter to the refugees coming in from Bangladesh on humanitarian ground.
3. A meeting of the Mizoram Cabinet decided to provide temporary shelter, food and medicine to the refugees who have already crossed over.

 

Additional Information:

Border Security Force (BSF):

1. The BSF was raised in 1965, after the India-Pakistan war.
2. It is one of the 7 Central Armed Police Forces of the Union of India under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
3. It has an air wing, marine wing, an artillery regiment, and commando units.
   BSF has been defending Sir Creek in Arabian Sea and Sundarban delta in the Bay of Bengal with its state of art fleet of Water Crafts.
4. BSF has an instrumental role in helping state administration in maintaining Law and Order and conducting peaceful elections.
5. BSF has been crusading against natural calamity to save precious human lives as and when warranted.
6. Other Central Armed Police Forces are: 

• Assam Rifles (AR)
• Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP)
• Central Industrial Security Force (CISF)
• Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)
• National Security Guards (NSG)
• Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

 

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