Border with Myanmar was forced upon us: Mizoram CM to PM Modi amid fencing plan

Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to apprise them of the concerns of the Mizos and the issue of Myanmarese refugees, especially with the present proposal by India to fence the border with Myanmar. He also pushed for a Greater Mizoram as part of Akhand Bharat.

During his first official visit after taking over as chief minister after winning the assembly polls on December last year, the Mizoram CM apprised the PM that the current border with Myanmar was forced upon the two ethnic groups without their prior consent. Infact, he later said, during his meeting with the external affairs minister, that the demarcation of the two countries was forced upon by the British and that Mizos find it is impossible to accept the border. He said that if border fencing with Myanmar is done, it would be considered as a sign of separation "from our ethnic brethren".

Lalduhoma stated that the wish of people on both sides of the border is to come under one administration, and that the refugees seeking shelter inside Mizoram are not treated differently but as their brethren. Lalduhoma stated in his Instagram page that the PM had advised him to submit a proposal for a more uniformed system of Inner Line Permit (ILP).


Lalduhoma also called on the External Affairs Minister to discuss the Myanmar refugee issue. Lalduhoma and Jaishankar have been 1977 civil service batch mates.

Over 38,000 people from Myanmar have taken refuge in Mizoram since the military coup in February 2021. Another 1,000 people from the Chittagong hill tracts of Bangladesh had also come to Mizoram.