Myanmar Asks India To Return Police Officers Who Fled To Seek Refuge

As the crackdown on anti-coup protests intensifies, Myanmar has asked neighboring India to return police officers who crossed the border to seek refuge. The officers reportedly fled after refusing to carry out the orders of the new military junta.

Maria C.T. Zuali, the deputy commissioner in Champai district of India’s northeastern state of Mizoram, said she received a letter from her Myanmar counterpart last week to return the officers to “uphold the friendship between Myanmar and India.”

Zuali said she has informed India’s Ministry of Home Affairs about the letter and is waiting for directions.

India shares a 1,020-mile border with Myanmar along with four states — Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram. It has reportedly also stepped up security along the border to stop refugees from crossing over.

As many as 30 Myanmar police officers and their family members have come across the border to seek refuge in recent days, according to Reuters.

Myanmar was plunged into crisis after a coup ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi from power on Feb. 1, triggering massive protests across the country. The police and military have taken a hard line against the protests and responded with a crackdown on demonstrators.

Zuali, according to The Associated Press, had earlier said that four police arrived in Champai area on Feb. 28, and they were handed over to state authorities by the locals. Three other officers crossed last week and told authorities they ran away because the Myanmar army was looking for them after they refused to obey orders, the report added.

There is no clarity yet on what orders the officers had refused to follow.

Meanwhile, protesters gathered across Myanmar Monday as major trade unions called for a strike to seek reinstatement of Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government. Reuters reported that at least nine unions said that allowing business and economic activity to continue would only benefit the military “as they repress the energy of the Myanmar people."

United Nations envoy to Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener said last week that at least 50 people had died in total since the military takeover in February, and many more wounded.

The United States has condemned the violence against protesters and imposed limited sanctions on the military junta.