KUKI-CHINS

• More than 270 members of the Kuki-Chin community from Bangladesh who entered Mizoram on November 20 are being referred to as “officially displaced persons” in State government records, as India does not have a law on refugees.
• A senior Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) official told The Hindu that the issue was being discussed with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
• According to the MHA, foreign nationals who enter the country without valid travel documents are treated as illegal immigrants. A senior government official said the group, including 25 infants and 60 women, approached a Border Security Force (BSF) patrol base on the Bangladesh-Mizoram border in the early hours of November 20 and were allowed to cross over. “They were allowed to enter India on humanitarian grounds,” the official said.
• The Christian community from Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts shares close ethnic ties with people in Mizoram. The Mizoram government has approved the setting up of temporary shelters for the community, who sought refuge in India following an action by the Bangladesh Rapid Action Battalion against some insurgents belonging to the group.

SOURCE: THE HINDU, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, PIB