The Union Home Ministry on Friday cautioned four Northeastern states—Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh—bordering Myanmar against influx from the neighbouring country in view of the large-scale protests following a military coup there, and asked them to take appropriate actions as per law.
In a communication, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) told the four states to guard against the influx of civilians and government officials from Myanmar and take all precautions to deal with any such situation, officials said. The four states were also told to take action as per the law if they found anyone entering India or trying to sneak into the country, they said.
The MHA communication came in the wake of reports saying that more than 200 Myanmar policemen and their families have fled to India, following the increasing intensity of military crackdown on protesters against the 1 February coup. At least 70 people have so far been killed, according to the UN’s top rights expert on the country.
Since then a growing stream of people, many of them police officers refusing to take part in the crackdown, have crossed over the border into the Northeast.
The Mizoram government has recently said that 16 people from Myanmar crossed over to India, of which 11 have claimed that they were police personnel.
After the entry of Myanmarese nationals, authorities of that country had requested the Mizoram administration to send back eight policemen, who crossed over to the northeastern state to take refuge, following last month’s military coup in the neighbouring country.
Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh has also said that several people from Myanmar tried to enter Manipur but returned on seeing the presence of a large number of security personnel.
Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland too share borders with Myanmar. The total length of the India-Myanmar border is 1,643 km, which is unfenced and porus.