MYANMAR – The Indian government has deported the first batch of Myanmar refugees seeking sanctuary after the 2021 coup d’état in Myanmar.
After the military coup, thousands of civilians and hundreds of troops from Myanmar crossed the border into India. The Indian Government has sent back 38 Myanmar refugees out of 77, as the first batch.
“We have completed the first phase of deporting illegal immigrants from Myanmar without discrimination. The state government is continuing to work to identify illegal immigrants,” Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh said in a press release.
The junta regime has also sent an Indian citizen back to India from Myanmar.
The Indian Government is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention 1951 and has no laws of its own protecting refugees.
It was planned to repatriate the Myanmar refugees in March 2024, but the process could start in May due to the clashes on the Myanmar side. It was said that such repatriations occurred after the government led by the nationalist and hard-line Indian Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi condemned the refugees as an issue related to the ethnic conflicts that took place in Manipur State.