Lalduhoma to PM Modi: Pushing back refugees to Bangladesh unacceptable

AIZAWL: Mizoram home minister K Sapdanga said chief minister Lalduhoma had raised the issue of refugees entering Mizoram from Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh but being pushed back BSF personnel with Prime Minister Narendra Modi with an appeal not to allow such actions in future. The CM would also take up the matter separately with the Union ministry, Sapdanga said.
Notably, all 126 refugees from Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), who entered Damdep-2 village in south Mizoram's Lawngtlai district on the Bangladesh border but were deported by BSF personnel, were being brought back on Sunday.
Speaking to TOI, Sapdanga said the refugees had been brought back to Chhippui village by BSF at about 4 PM and will be handed over to the state police at Chamdur 'P' village where they will be provided food and shelter. "The SDC and the SDPO concerned have arrived at Chamdur 'P' and will give food to the refugees and make arrangements for their shelter," he said.
Sapdanga further said while 93 refugees were pushed back by the BSF, the remaining 33 more were brought to Lawngtlai district. The remaining refugees were also brought back and the total number of refugees in the district to 126.
"Chief minister Lalduhoma has spoken to me from Delhi on Friday asking me to ensure that the refugees who have arrived in Mizoram should not be deported and that he will also take up the matter with the Union home ministry. He met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday during which the chief minister categorically told the latter that no refugees who have entered the state should not be pushed back," Sapdanga said.
He also said the refugees were being kept at Chhippui where their biographic details will be recorded after which they will leave for Chamdur 'P'.
At least 93 refugees from Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) belonging to 32 families who entered Damdep-2 village in south Mizoram's Lawngtlai district on Wednesday and Thursday nights were pushed back by BSF personnel on Friday night, the Zo Reunification Organisation (ZoRO) said on Saturday.
In a press release, ZoRo also said the refugees who came to Mizoram to take shelter due to armed clashes in the CHT were first taken to the Damdep-2 community hall where their names and other particulars, including names of their native villages in Bangladesh, were recorded. The refugees comprise 43 males, 24 females and 26 children, including a 7-month-old baby girl, a one-year-old girl and one three-year-old boy.
"While they were being lodged at the community hall, BSF personnel surreptitiously took them out and dropped them at the Mizoram-Bangladesh border late at night on Friday," the ZoRO statement added.
They are mainly from Happy Hills and Zulvarawng villages while there are also people coming from Bethel, Bethlehem, Arthah, New Eden and Gethsemani villages in the CHT.