India began deporting hundreds of Myanmar nationals on Friday who had escaped a recent rise in fighting between the junta and rebels in a border region, according to a senior state official.
“First batch of Myanmar nationals who entered India illegally deported today,” N. Biren Singh, chief minister of Manipur state, which borders Myanmar, wrote in a post on social networking platform X, without revealing any precise figures.
Although India is not a member to the 1951 Refugee Convention, it has provided sanctuary and help to individuals fleeing the Myanmar crisis on humanitarian grounds in an organized manner,” Singh stated.
Thousands of civilians have left the conflict in Myanmar and crossed into India’s remote northeastern province of Manipur. Singh released a video of Myanmar nationals, primarily women and children, being deported.
The expulsion comes a month after the Indian government asked for the immediate termination of a free movement border arrangement with Myanmar. This arrangement allowed residents residing in border zones to travel a short distance into the neighboring country’s territory without a visa.
