Mizoram’s effort to document refugees from neighbouring countries has crossed a key threshold, with officials confirming that more than half of all Myanmar nationals currently sheltering in the state have completed biometric registration.
A senior home department official informed that 58.15 per cent of the 31,214 Myanmar refugees spread across all 11 districts have been enrolled so far. Champhai district, which borders Myanmar, continues to host the largest concentration.
Biometric and biographic data collection began in July following a directive from the Union Home Ministry and is being undertaken through the Foreigners Identification Portal and Biometric Enrolment system.
The official said that progress among asylum seekers from Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts has been slower, with only 10.84 per cent of the 2,354 refugees enrolled to date. The Bawm community, which fled after a military offensive in 2022, is largely sheltered in Lawngtlai district, neighbouring areas of Lunglei and the Thenzawl region of Serchhip.
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District teams working on the enrolment drive continue to face setbacks. “While it is easier to collect data from refugees living in relief camps, it is difficult to undertake the task of collecting data of people residing with relatives or friends or in rented houses,” the official said. Connectivity issues, including frequent technical glitches in remote interior villages, have further delayed the process.
The number of displaced people currently living in Mizoram also includes 6,953 internally displaced persons from Manipur, who arrived after ethnic violence erupted in that state.
The Myanmar nationals, mostly from Chin state, crossed over after the 2021 military coup, while the Bawm tribe from Bangladesh shares ethnic ties with the Mizo community, which has facilitated local support networks during their displacement.
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