YMA to provide humanitarian assistance to Kuki-Chin refugees from Bangladesh

CYMA general secretary Lalnuntluanga on Thursday said the organisation has decided to provide humanitarian aid to the Kuki-Chin people, who fled from Bangladeshs Chittagong Hill Tracts CHT following the alleged military offensive against an ethnic insurgent group by the Bangladesh army.The assistance will be provided mainly in the form of money.

The central committee of Young Mizo Association (YMA) or Central YMA would provide humanitarian assistance to the ethnic Kuki-Chin (Mizo) people from Bangladesh who have taken shelter in Mizoram, a CYMA leader said. YMA is the largest civil society organisation in Mizoram having nearly 5 lakh members in and outside the state.

On Tuesday, the Mizoram cabinet had also decided to provide temporary shelter, food and other basic amenities to the Bangladeshi nationals. CYMA general secretary Lalnuntluanga on Thursday said the organisation has decided to provide humanitarian aid to the Kuki-Chin people, who fled from Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) following the alleged military offensive against an ethnic insurgent group by the Bangladesh army.

''The assistance will be provided mainly in the form of money. We welcome any individual donor to contribute for the assistance,'' Lalnuntluanga told PTI.

He said that Rs 50,000 was handed over to them on Thursday as initial assistance. At least 272 people, including 137 children from Bangladesh, have taken shelter at Parva village in south Mizoram's Lawngtlai district, bordering Bangladesh and Myanmar, a senior official in the state Home department said. The Bangladeshi nationals fled their homes and entered Mizoram on November 20 following an armed conflict between the Bangladesh Army and ethnic insurgent group Kuki-Chin National Army (KNA), the official said. Mizoram shares a 318-km-long international border with Bangladesh. The Kuki-Chin communities in Bangladesh share ethnic ties and origin with the Mizos in Mizoram and many of them have relatives in the state. In Mizoram, all the ethnic Zo people are known under a 'Mizo' nomenclature, while in Myanmar they are known as 'Chin' or Zomi or Laimi and in Manipur they are sometimes referred to as 'Kuki.

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