The Mizoram State Government will relocate and segregate refugees from Bangladesh and Myanmar and internally displaced people from the neighbouring Indian State of Manipur into separate camps for each group.

Pu K. Sapdanga, the Home Minister of Mizoram and the Chairman of the High-Level Committee on Indigenous Internally Displaced Persons, which assists refugees in Mizoram State, told Mizoram LPS Daily on 26 November that the Mizoram authorities are searching for appropriate land on which to house the refugees and IDPs who have fled to Mizoram due to fighting in their home areas.

He said that the Mizoram authorities are looking for land near the state border with Assam State to house the Zo (Chin) IDPs who fled from Manipur State.

They plan to house the refugees from Bangladesh in the area of south west Mizoram State controlled by the Chakma Autonomous District Council (CADC).

The plan for the Myanmar refugees is to house them in a single location close to the border with Myanmar.

Currently, IDPs and refugees from all three groups are being housed together in refugee camps, government-sponsored facilities, and community buildings in Mizoram State. They are completely reliant on assistance from the government and donors.

Pu K. Sapdanga explained that the idea to house the IDPs and refugees with others of a similar nationality or ethnicity is to help them to become more self-reliant and to reduce their dependence on donors.

He also stressed that the arrangements did not mean that the authorities were planning to permanently settle the IDPs and refugees in Mizoram State and that once there was no more fighting in their home areas they would have to return.

According to figures from the Mizoram Home Ministry, there are currently 43,788 displaced people sheltering in the state. Of these 33,764 are from Myanmar, 2,014 are from Bangladesh and 8,010 are from Manipur State.