Mizoram to issue ID cards to refugees

Guwahati: With thousands of Myanmar refugees taking shelter in Mizoram after the military coup, the state government is planning to issue identity cards to them.

A senior official from state government on condition of anonymity told ET, "The process to provide identity cards is underway. Roughly 16,000 such cards will be provided. It is a challenging work for these people who are fanned out across the borders and in many places staying with their relatives." Mizoram shares a 510 km long unfenced border with Myanmar. The official said, "Several refugees are staying in makeshift camps. As Covid-19 situation eases, the task group on refugees will visit the areas along the border."

Around 16, 000 people have taken shelter in Mizoram. Union home ministry earlier had sent out an advisory to four north eastern states -- Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh saying that states and Union Territories have no power to grant "refugee" status to any foreigner, and India is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention of 1951 and its 1967 Protocol.