India Repatriates 184 Myanmar Soldiers Who Sought Refuge In Mizoram

After fighting with an ethnic insurgent group last week, 184 Myanmarese soldiers ran to Mizoram. On Tuesday, January 23, 2024, an official said that India sent them back to their home country.

An official from the Assam Rifles said that 184 of the 276 Myanmarese forces who came into Mizoram last week were sent back on Monday.

They were taken by Myanmar Air Force planes from the Lengpui airport near Aizawl to Sittwe in the Rakhine state of the neighboring country, she said.

She also said that the last 92 soldiers would be sent home on Tuesday.

Myanmarese forces came into Bandukbanga village with weapons and ammunition on January 17. The village is in the southernmost district of Mizoram and is near the borders of India, Myanmar, and Bangladesh. They then went up to the Assam Rifles.

They ran away to Mizoram after fighters from the “Arakan Army” took over and took over their camp.

The Burmese troops were taken to the Assam Rifles camp in Parva, which is close by. Later, most of them were moved to Lunglei, an official said.

They have been watched over by the Assam Rifles ever since, the source said.

On Saturday and Sunday, these 276 troops were brought to Aizawl so that they could be taken to Myanmar from the Lengpui airport.

An official said that the group is led by a colonel and has 36 officers and 240 lower-ranking staff.

Officials say that along with the 276 troops who came in last week, up to 635 Myanmar soldiers have fled to Mizoram after their camps were taken over by ethnic armed groups and pro-democratic forces.

They said that 359 of them had already been sent back to their own country.

In November, Indian Air Force (IAF) planes took 104 soldiers from different parts of Mizoram to the border town of Moreh in Manipur. They were then sent back home. Early this month, Myanmar air force planes sent 255 troops back through the Lengpui airport.

Myanmar is right next to Mizoram on a 510-km border.