The Indian government is sending back the citizens of Myanmar who took refugee status in India across the border due to the recent junta-rebel conflict. The first batch of refugees have already been sent back from India’s northeastern state of Manipur.

Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh confirmed this information in a message posted on social media last Friday. he also said, ‘The government has decided to send back the citizens of Myanmar who entered India illegally. The first batch of these citizens was being sent back last (Friday). ‘
Biren Singh also said in Expost, ‘India is not a signatory country of the 1951 Refugee Convention. But still, the Indian government has been providing shelter and assistance to Myanmar’s endangered citizens for a long time on humanitarian grounds. ‘

Along with this message, the Chief Minister of Manipur posted a video on X.

The video shows a group of Myanmar nationals crossing the border. Most of the members of this group are women and children.
Incidentally, Myanmar shares borders with the Indian states of Mizoram, Manipur, Arunachal and Nagaland. The combined length of the border of these four Indian states with Myanmar is 1,643 km. In terms of ethnic identity, the people of Myanmar and the people of these four states of India are quite close.

On February 1, 2021, the Myanmar army seized national power by overthrowing the National League for Democracy (NLD) government led by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Army chief General Min Aung Hlaing led the coup.

Myanmar’s pro-democracy crowd swelled soon after the military took power. They started a movement across the country to demand the return of democratic governance. But after members of Myanmar’s police and security forces began using firearms to suppress protests, some pro-democracy groups began to join anti-junta rebel groups around 2022.

Since late October 2023, the People’s Democratic Forces (PDF), a coalition of Myanmar’s anti-junta armed groups, has launched a coordinated offensive against the military in various provinces of Myanmar. Three allied groups Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Arakan Army (AA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) are leading the conflict.

The central government of India had announced the repatriation of Myanmar refugees last February to free the four bordering states from the heat of the conflict. Its implementation started from Friday.