Mizoram's Lawngtlai district starts registration of over 1,600 Myanmar refugees along border

Aizawl: The administration of southern Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district has started the process to register the over 1,600 Myanmarese nationals who had taken refuge in four remote villages in the district, an official said on Monday. [caption id=“attachment_4178501” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] After the refugees are registered with the district administration, they would be given temporary ration cards for food distribution among them, the official said. More than 300 quintals of rice had already arrived in the four villages, situated along the Mizoram-Myanmar border to be distributed among the refugees, he said. Makeshift relief camps in the villages were being constructed for the refugees. The official said that the refugees who took shelter in the four villages — Hmawngbuchhuah, Zochachhuah, Laitlang and Dumzautlang — belonged to Khumi and Rakhine province of Myanmar, known to the local populace inside Mizoram as ‘Zakhai’, tribes. Central committee of the Young Lai Association (YLA), the apex body of the Lai tribe in Lawngtlai district had distributed blankets and garments to the displaced people on Friday. Mizoram Thalai Kristian Pawl (MTKP) the youth wing of the Baptist Church of Mizoram also handed over Rs 50,000 to the central committee of the YLA for the purchase of relief items. The exodus of civilians from Myanmar to Lawngtlai district began on 25 November last after armed clashes between the Myanmar Army and the Arakan militants.