India starts deporting Myanmar refugees fleeing fighting between rebels, military junta

India on Friday started deporting citizens of Myanmar today who had escaped an upsurge in fighting between rebels and the ruling junta in a border region.

“First batch of Myanmar nationals who entered India illegally deported today,” Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh said in a post on social media platform X, without providing specific numbers.

“Although India is not signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, it has given shelter & aid to those fleeing the crisis in Myanmar on humanitarian grounds with a systematic approach,” Singh added.

Numerous civilians have crossed into the isolated state of Manipur in the northeast after fleeing the violence in Myanmar.

Singh shared a video on social media that showed the departing Myanmar nationals—mostly women and children.

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The expulsion takes place one month after the Indian government demanded the immediate termination of a free movement border agreement with Myanmar, which permitted citizens in border zones to go a short distance into the territory of their neighbor without requiring a visa.

Additionally, India is building a fence spanning 1,643 kilometers (1,020-miles) along its porous border with Myanmar, which passes through remote jungles and snow-capped Himalayan peaks.

Many in the border regions, like Manipur, have strong religious and cultural ties to those in Myanmar.

Since May of last year, fighting between the primarily Christian Kuki community and the generally Hindu Meitei majority in Manipur has claimed the lives of over 200 individuals.

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Numerous individuals who have fled from Myanmar to India are related to the Kuki ethnic group.

Arakan Army (AA) fighters attacked security forces in November, breaking a ceasefire that had largely held since a military coup in 2021. Since then, there have been many confrontations in parts of Myanmar near the Indian border.

Those who had left Myanmar and crossed into India to avoid the violence included hundreds of military.