Aizawl
Myanmar has requested the administration in Mizoram to send back 8 policemen, who have apparently crossed over to the northeastern state to take refuge, following last month's military coup in the neighbouring country, an official here said. Mizoram shares a 510-km-long porous border with Myanmar, where mass demonstrations are being held in protest against the declaration of a year-long emergency by the country's armed forces.
According to Maria CT Zuali, the deputy commissioner in Champai district, her counterpart in Myanmar's Falam has sought the "handover of eight police personnel who fled the neighbouring country and entered India". "I have received a letter from the deputy commissioner of Falam district in Myanmar seeking the detainment and handover of eight police personnel to Naypyitaw as a friendly gesture," Zuali told PTI on Saturday.
The letter, a copy of which was available with PTI, said that eight police personnel from Myanmar have escaped to India. "To uphold friendly relations between the two neighbouring countries, you are kindly requested to detain eight Myanmar police personnel who had arrived in Indian territories and handover to Myanmar," the letter undersigned by Falam district deputy commissioner Saw Htun Win stated.
A top official of the state's home department had said on Friday that 16 people from Myanmar have crossed over to India over the last few days, of which 11 have claimed that they were police personnel.
He further said that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has been apprised of all the latest developments, and the state government is waiting for a "direction" from the Centre.
