Mizoram completes biometric enrolment of 1,679 Bangladesh refugees | Guwahati News

Aizawl: District administration officials in Mizoram have completed biometric enrolment of 1,679 refugees from the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh and have finished 98.88% of the biometric enrolment of refugees from Myanmar, state home department officials said on Saturday.The officials said the process for Bangladesh refugees was completed with enrolment of 1,361 people sheltering in Lawngtlai district, which borders Bangladesh and Myanmar. Biometric enrolment of Bangladesh refugees in Serchhip (235), Lunglei (76) and Aizawl (7) wascompleted earlier, while the Lawngtlai exercise moved slowly as the district also hosts the second-largest number of Myanmar refugees.Refugees from Bangladesh began fleeing the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the latter part of Nov 2022 after the Bangladesh army launched a crackdown on the Kuki-Chin National Liberation Army cadres, during which civilians were also reportedly targeted.Officials said biometric enrolment of Myanmar refugees sheltering across Mizoram’s 11 districts stood at 98.88% as of Friday. Enrolment has been completed for 29,247 refugees out of a total of 29,577 from Myanmar so far.Seven districts — Champhai, Aizawl, Lunglei, Siaha, Mamit, Khawzawl and Saitual — have completed enrolment of Myanmar refugees, while Serchhip has finished 99.86% of the exercise.Champhai, which hosts 12,083 Myanmar refugees, was among the first districts to complete the process. Hnahthial district in south Mizoram, hosting 622 refugees, has completed 90.51% of enrolment.

Lawngtlai district, which hosts 6,328 Myanmar refugees, has completed 95.83% of enrolment despite its large and remote border areas and the presence of 1,361 refugees from Bangladesh.“The biometric enrolment process began during the latter part of July last year as per instruction from the MHA and is nearing completion,” home department officials said.

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