The Central Young Mizo Association (CYMA) on Monday staged a dharna in front of Raj Bhavan in Aizawl “extending solidarity” with the Chin-Kuki community members from Bangladesh seeking refuge in India.

They also submitted a memorandum to the Union home secretary through the Raj Bhavan and urged the Union home ministry to stop “pushing back” the refugees on “humanitarian grounds”.

The Chin-Kuki community settled in Bangladesh is a Mizo ethnic group.

They have been fleeing the Bandarban district of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and entering neighbouring Mizoram since November 20 last year to escape the ongoing fight between the Bangladesh Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and the rebel Kuki-Chin National Army, which is demanding a separate state for the community in Bangladesh.

The first batch of 272 refugees took shelter at Parva III village in Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district and the number has gone up to about 500, the memorandum said.

The CYMA’s two-hour dharna held in 10 of the state’s 11 districts on Monday was triggered by the death of a retired pastor from Bangladesh due to starvation.

He was among a group of refugees trying to enter Lawngtlai district on January 4 to escape persecution in Bangladesh but was “pushed back” by the BSF, the memorandum said.

“The people who were pushed back were left starving, without food and water in the deep forest in between India and Bangla borders for many days.”