The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs is extending the deadline for the collection of biometric and biographical data from Myanmar refugees in Mizoram and Manipur States by six months, according to All India Radio News Aizawl.

The ministry started collecting the data on 29 July and originally it planned to finish the process by September, but it has now extended the end date to March 2024.

The extension was granted because of the violence and riots in Manipur and the upcoming November elections in Mizoram.

A Myanmar refugee in Mizoram said: “It seems that the central government may have deliberately extended the deadline to see if the incoming [Mizoram] government will continue [collecting data] after the forthcoming elections.”

An official from the Burmese Refugees Committee (Kabaw Valley Region) in Manipur said that local organisations and refugee support groups had collected biometric data from the refugees prior to inter-ethnic violence between the Meitei people and the Kuki tribal community.

But, when the violence started the collection of biometric data from the refugees stopped. The records of the already collected biometric data have since been confiscated and no ID cards have been issued. The refugees are now concerned about who their biometric data will be shared with.

India for Myanmar, an independent grassroots advocacy movement made up of, experts and members of different organisations in Myanmar and India, is protesting the forced collection of Myanmar refugees’ biometric data saying that it is a violation of their right to privacy and an intrusion into their private lives.

Local sources estimate that over 50,000 Myanmar people have sought refuge in Mizoram state, while more than 5,000 have taken refuge in Manipur State since the February 2021 coup in Myanmar.