Suffering in oblivion: Burmese Refugees in the Northeast Region of India
23 May, 2002 · 758
Paolienlal Haokip highlights the neglected condition of the Burmese refugees in the Northeast and pins it on the absence of a national law on refugees
Burmese refugees in the northeastern region of
India
deserve greater attention, and their plight, which is worse than any other refugee situation in
India
, needs to be addressed with more concern. Not because their numbers are large or they have political significance, but precisely because of their small numbers and political insignificance. Human misfortunes become lighter when recognized and sympathies are expressed. Tragedy borne in oblivion is suffering multiplied. The case of Burmese refugees in the Northeast is a classic example of this phenomenon.
India
and
Burma
share a long international border, much of which is porous. As a result, there has always been unrestricted trans-border movement of people from both sides, due to ethnic contiguity and social bonds, besides economic interdependence that had evolved before history separated
India
and
Burma
. The drawing of the Indo-Burma border was done in utter disregard of local ethno-social and economic affinities with villages and even homes split into Indian and Burmese halves. As a result, ethnic communities like the Konyak-Naga tribe in the Nagaland-Burma border region, Kukis in the Manipur-Burma border region, and Chin and Reang tribals in the Mizoram sector, etc. have been separated against their will and in disregard of socio-economic cohesion. Consequently, they ended up becoming insignificant minorities in both countries.
Burma
in 1988. This time the pretext was that they were colluding with the Democracy activists. The numbers were smaller than in 1967-69, but included other Burmese groups, e.g., students and National League for Democracy (NLD) activists of Burmese ethnicity, Kachin and Shan student activists, and members of various minority insurgent groups in
Burma
. Except for the few luckier refugees who managed to reach
Delhi
where they were given recognition, status and aid by the UNHCR, the others suffered in oblivion.
When the Burmese government under Ne Win launched their programme of Burmanization in 1967, the local name in the region being Operation Khadawmi, entire villages of these communities were served evacuation notices requiring them to vacate their homes within 48 hours. They were told that they could take whatever they could manage to carry and not make further claims to their land and property thereafter. This drive was carried out on the basis of their possession or otherwise of a National Identity Card which was introduced some two years earlier and issued arbitrarily on payment of huge bribes, which most of them could not afford. In the process, some 15,000 Konyak-Nagas, 20,000 Kukis and 17000-20000 Chin and Reang tribals were driven out into the bordering States of Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram respectively.
This forcible evacuation was heightened after the Democratic uprising in
Neither the State governments nor the Government of India gave them any recognition or relief, nor did they allow the UNHCR any access into the region. They were forced to make do with whatever little aid could be generated locally and live in hutments erected in haste. Health, nutrition, education, relief, and repatriation, etc., which are important rights of refugees elsewhere in the world do not apply to them or benefit them.
Jobless and hungry, with no governmental or international efforts to remedy their plight, the youth in these refugee communities become easy recruits for various insurgent organizations operating in the region. Secondly, some of them, especially women, resort to smuggling as it provides a lucrative income. The legalization of the Indo-Myanmar trade severely affected them economically, at least on the short-term in the absence of any alternative to employment. Thirdly, some among them took to drugs and arms trafficking across the border which is the other ‘get-rich-quick’ formula available to them in the circumstances. Thus, unintended, the refugees in the Indo-Myanmar border have become agents of factors antithetical to the national interests of both countries.
The absence of any national legislation on refugees is primarily responsible for the plight of these refugees, and for threats to national security as a consequence thereof. Much of this human tragedy and its undesirable spin-offs could have been avoided had there been an effective national law on refugees.
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