A pedestrian border crossing between Myanmar and India in the small village of Rihkhawdar, Myanmar, as seen in May 2017.
According to a report by noted journalist Rajeev Bhattacharyya in The Diplomat, the security forces in India apprehended at least four foreign nationals, two Americans and two Canadians, who were reportedly trying to cross Myanmar border from India. They were detained six months ago at the border district of Champhai in Mizoram.
They were quizzed by government authorities and instructed to return to New Delhi from where they had arrived in Mizoram.
“All of them wanted to cross over to Myanmar, which they admitted during the interrogation,” a government official said, adding that while the case of the Canadian nationals is “understandable,” that of the U.S nationals “remains a bit of a puzzle.”
The Canadian nationals emigrated from Myanmar’s Chin State to Canada many years ago. It is likely that they were on a visit to their native villages or towns in Chin State, which is easier to reach from Mizoram than landing at an airport in Myanmar and traveling by road all the way through disturbed areas to reach their destination.
India and Myanmar have a “free border regime” along the entire stretch of the 1,020- mile border, which means that citizens from one country can cross over to the other side up to a distance of 10 miles (16 kilometers). The arrangement has allowed the continuation of social and economic ties among the communities that inhabit the areas along the international border.
According to Salai Mang Hre Lian, program manager of Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO), around 120,000 Chin people from Myanmar have settled in Europe, the United States, and Canada over the past several decades. The primary reasons for their emigration to Western countries are poverty and unemployment in Chin State, which is one of the least developed regions in Myanmar.
The two U.S. citizens apprehended along the Indian border with Myanmar are not from Myanmar originally.
An Indian government official alleged that they were “not speaking the truth” about their motives to sneak into Myanmar when they were quizzed at Mizoram’s capital of Aizawl. “It is quite likely that the duo has contacts with Myanmar expatriates in the U.S.
Perhaps, they were advised to reach a certain point along the border from where they might have been taken to some places in Myanmar,” he said.