Aizawl: At least 34 refugees from Myanmar have recently entered Mizoram, the state home department records said.The entry of these refugees, including 31 in south Mizoram’s Hnahthial district, was reportedly due to a forcible attempt by the Chin National Army (CNA), the main Chin insurgent group, to conscript young people aged between 13 and 18.With the new influx, the number of Myanmar refugees taking shelter in Mizoram due to the military coup has gone up to 29,691 as of Friday, as against 29,657 during the second week of April.The young people who fled Dawn and surrounding villages in western Chin state of Myanmar, and entered Hnahthial district, claimed that some youths in the area have been forcibly recruited as combatants by CNA cadres to fight the military junta. They said they had to flee to avoid being forcibly drafted into the insurgent cadre.The recent entries of refugees have caused a setback in the ongoing biometric enrollment of Myanmar refugees in the state. The completion of the exercise has dropped from 96.17% to 96.09%. Serchhip district, which had achieved 100% biometric enrolment, has now fallen to 99.58%.The biometric enrollment process has, however, been progressing slowly since Jan this year, with most district administrations making little progress though Aizawl, Champhai and Lunglei districts had achieved 100% enrollment during the last part of 2025.Meanwhile, biometric enrollment of 2,436 refugees from Bangladesh has started in south Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district, bordering both Bangladesh and Myanmar. Out of 2,118 Bangladesh refugees from the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the biometric enrollment of 603 refugees (28.47%) has been completed.Earlier, Serchhip, Lunglei and Aizawl districts, which host 235, 76 and 7 Bangladesh refugees respectively, completed the enrollment process last year.
