Over 8,400 Myanmar refugees crossed over into India after military coup, 5,796 pushed back: Centre

More than 8,400 Myanmar refugees crossed over into India after the military coup in the country on February 1, the Centre told the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

Ajay Bhatt, the minister of state for defence, provided the information in response to Biju Janata Dal MP Sasmit Patra’s question about how many infiltration attempts took place at India’s international borders this year. Patra also sought details about the number of infiltrators killed and apprehended by security forces.

“At the Indo-Myanmar Border, post military coup which came into effect from 01.02.2021, 8,486 Myanmar nationals/refugees crossed over into India, out of which 5,796 were pushed back and 2,690 are still in India,” the minister said.

Bhatt added that at the Indo-Pakistan Border, there were 33 infiltration attempts in the first six months of 2021. Eleven infiltrators were killed, while 20 were detained, he added.

There were 441 infiltration attempts at the Indo-Bangladesh border during the same period, the minister said. He added that one infiltrator was killed, while 740 were detained.

“In addition, 11 illegal infiltrators along Indo-Nepal Border have been apprehended in this year (upto 30.06.2021),” the minister said. “No cases of infiltration have been reported at [the] Indo-China Border.”

In July, the Human Rights Watch, citing media reports, had said that…

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