Myanmar asks India to handover 8 cops who fled across border

Aizawl, Mar 06: Myanmar has requested the administration in Mizoram to send back eight 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," Ms Zuali told news agency PTI on Saturday.

The letter, a copy of which was available to PTI, said that eight police personnel from Myanmar have escaped to India.

"In order 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 also said that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has been apprised of all the latest developments, and the state government is waiting for a "direction" from the Centre.

Sources in the Assam Rifles, which guards the Mizoram-Myanmar border, said about 35 Myanmarese have sneaked into the state so far.

Assam Rifles DIG Brigadier Digvijay Singh, on his part, said security has been stepped up along the border to stop infiltration from the trouble-torn country.

"Several people have attempted to cross the border...We did not push them back by force but politely told them that they cannot illegally enter the Indian Territory. Many of them have returned," Mr Singh, who is camping at Champhai, told PTI over phone.