The peaceful states in North East India, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram, are exhibiting signs of growing problems over the issue of refugees. While the concern in Arunachal Pradesh arises from the continued presence of some 60,000 Chakma and Hajong Refugees from Bangladesh, Mizoram is plagued by the issues of repatriating Bru refugees and forced repatriation of Burmese refugees. Both have grave implications for human rights and national security.

The Chakma and Hajong refugees, tribal Buddhists from Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh, fled persecution by its majority Muslim community to Arunachal Pradesh in 1964. The 60,000 odd refugees are remnants of the repatriation following the Indo-Bangladesh agreement of 1986. While the central government wants these refugees to be permanently settled in Arunachal Pradesh, the indigenous communities, as also the State government, is against any such move.

Two pertinent issues arise. First, the All Arunachal Pradesh Student Union (AAPSU) had served a quit notice on the Chakmas and Hajongs in last June and have threatened a widespread agitation unless the refugees are deported from Arunachal Pradesh. While its mainstream leadership and the state government are pursuing peaceful protest, the threat of violence and consequent threat to refugees comes from radical elements within the indigenous community who take to the path of violence to evict ‘aliens’ from their ‘land’. The Convener of the Core Committee on Deportation of Chakma Refugees (CCDCR), Domin Loya, delivered a threat recently when he stated that New Delhi's belligerent stand allowing the Chakmas to settle in Arunachal might force some people to take up arms and fight them.

This problem poses imminent threats to security at different levels. The threat of violence by radical elements within the community, the seeds of which lie in the formation of the Eastern India Liberation Tigers Front (EILTF), could result in another prolonged insurgency movement given the fact that militancy tends to develop its own dynamics. This has generated a counter-reaction from the refugees, with a section of Chakma and Hajong refugee youths having crossed over to Bangladesh to smuggle in arms. The prospect of a violent ethnic conflict looms large on the horizon, unless a timely resolution to the problem is found.

The crisis acquires added significance in the light of the recent border skirmish between an Indian and Chinese Patrol and the continued non-recognition by China of the state being a part of India. In an attempt to leverage the Indo-Chinese border conflict to secure a resolution of the refugee crisis, or perhaps to express disillusionment with the centre, the convener of the CCDCR, Domin Loya, recently stated, "If New Delhi try and impose an arbitrary decision asking the Chakmas to be settled here, we would have to look for help from our lost brothers (meaning China) to fight for our rights,". Thus, besides threatening local peace, the presence of Chakma and Hajong refugees in Arunachal poses threats to national security unless a long term, amicable solution is reached soon.

In Mizoram the government and the Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF) would enter their ninth round of talks by mid September 2003 to negotiate the repatriation of Bru refugees camping in Tripura since December 1997. The repatriation of the Brus to Mizoram is pending since 1997 when they fled Mizoram following a Mizo-Bru conflict. Disagreement over the exact number to be repatriated and the Mizoram government’s precondition that the BNLF must disarm before repatriation begins has delayed this process.  In the process, the Bru refugees in Tripura camps continue to suffer, deprived of their rights to a meaningful existence.

Mizoram has also witnessed a massive outflow of Burmese refugees in recent months. The Chin refugees who had taken refuge in the state following persecution by the Burmese Junta in the post-1988 democracy uprising were forcibly repatriated to Myanmar during July-August 2003. Triggered by an incident of rape in which a refugee boy allegedly raped a Mizo girl, the local Mizos, under the banner of the Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), have forced some 4000 Burmese refugees back to Myanmar. More than 50,000 ethnic Chin, Kuki and Naga refugees from Myanmar have been left at the mercy of the state governments and the local populace.

In the absence of Central and International aid, the resources of the local people are often stretched to the limit, posing the danger of gross human rights abuses. The absence of a national legislation on refugees in India and the adhocism with which this issue is dealt with in the country, despite its many successes, will always leave scope for such aberrations in the human rights and security spheres.