The South East Asian Nation of Myanmar is facing and undergoing tumultuous political instability and turbulence. The military junta government in the country has launched a huge and brutal crackdown on the ethnic Chin, Karen and Kachin People. As a result of which there has been an enormous influx of these displaced people in the adjacent North-eastern States of India particularly in Mizoram and Manipur.
An official from the National Unity Government has requested Indian authorities to recognise the persecuted people as refugees. On 13th February 2021, the democratic government of Myanmar was overthrown by a coup and many leaders were jailed including Aung San Suu Kyi. The official also mentioned that democratic leaders are still present in the country and are being actively supported by various Ethnic Resistance Organisations (ERO).
The democratic leader mentioned that Myanmar has been divided for a long time more than 70 years. The people have never embraced the Central Government as the military rulers never wanted to give and grant rights to any ethnic groups and territories.
Following the overthrow, the political parties came together and invited the ethnic communities and drafted Federal Democracy Charter. This gave them a roadmap to end the root cause of instability in Myanmar such as toppling the military dictatorship and abolishing the Constitution of 2008 which stated that kept important ministries like the Ministry of Home, Foreign Affairs, and Defence from elected and designated representatives.
According to the data from sources in the NUG, India has absorbed 50000 individuals from Myanmar since the influx following the coup. The majority of them are Chin people. About 40000 of them still live in the northeastern state of Mizoram. The junta has been very suppressive in areas such as Chin State, Sagaing State and Kachin State. These areas are also home to many armed opponents of the Junta.
Sources in the democratic opposition informed that they are trying to create a support network on the ground among the displaced individuals to ensure a smooth flow of relief materials to the people who are staying in the territory of Mizoram without much support even as the winter has made life difficult for them.
Myanmar has faced a civil war since the late 1940s as the central government and multiple military rulers of the country failed to provide federal guarantees to the various regions and ethnic groups of the country which can be stabilised only by the drafting of a new constitution.
Six months post the coup, the strategy employed by the group was to avoid a confrontation with the junta and set up an armed opposition. On the 7th of September 2021, the group raised a call to arm the cadre on the ground.
The armed struggle between the Military Junta and the Ethnic Resistance Organisations soon will continue to generate more displacement of people and refugees.
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