We won't deport Burmese activists: Zoramthanga

UNDATED, July 24: Zoramthanga, the chief minister of Mizoram, has said that the Mizoram government is not pushing back any Burmese pro-democracy activist to Burma. "We welcome them ... . We are not pushing those Burmese democracy activists at all. The people we pushed (back) are smugglers", Zoramthanga said on July 23 when asked to comment on a reported statement of the Mizoram home minister on the deportation of Burmese nationals from the state. According to a PTI report, Tawnluia, the state home minister had told the state Assembly on July 20 that the Mizoram government had deported 448 Burmese nationals between December 1998 and June 1999. About a hundred Burmese pro-democracy activists have taken shelter in Mizoram since the 1988 military coup in Burma. Moreover, there are estimated 5,000 Burmese immigrants working as handloom weavers, taxi drivers and maids in Aizawl, the state capital. "When the police saw them (Burmese), they took them to the Champhai border and left them at the border river bank. But the Burmese come back (to Aizawl) the next day", said Zoramthanga as it is a usual work of the Mizoram police. Expressing the worry of the state government on the situation of infiltrators from Bangladesh, the chief minister, however, said, "We are really worried about (the people from) Bangladesh. We don't care much about the Burma side because they are our blood brothers and sisters. But we don't welcome Chakmas from Bangladesh". Seventy five percent of Mizoram is an international border with Burma and Bangladesh. The Mizoram government has recently started identifying foreign settlers in the state. It has also approached the central government to provide one battalion of the Prevention of Infiltration Force (IPF) to counter "infiltrators". The central government has provided only one battalion of Indian Reserve Police for Mizoram. The chief minister, moreover, urged the Chin National Front (CNF) to leave arms and live like other civilians in the cities. "I told them that you can live without your arms. You will be tolerated. But when you wear uniforms and hold arms, that is illegal. This cannot be tolerated from the law and order point of view", said the chief minister. Recently, Assam Rifles had attacked CNF mobile camps situated inside Mizoram. The Chin National Front (CNF) is one of the armed groups, which is still fighting against the military regime in Burma. Regarding the opening of border trade between Mizoram and Burma, the chief minister said that there has been no new development though the trade has been more or less going on in the form of smuggling. The Indian government is currently building infrastructural facilities in the Mizoram border for opening the trade between Champhai and Burma. "I think it (trade) will start after one year", said Mr. Zoramthanga.