India issues advisory against travel to Myanmar’s Rakhine over ’deteriorating’ security situation

Amid the tense situation in Myanmar, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday advised Indians not to travel to the Rakhine state. The MEA also advised Indian citizens currently living in the Rakhine state to immediately leave the state.

Also Read: India to fence Indo-Myanmar border, says Amit Shah; work underway in Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur

“Given the deteriorating security situation, disruption of means of telecommunications, including landlines, and severe scarcity of essential commodities, all Indian citizens are advised not to travel to the Rakhine state of Myanmar. Those Indian citizens who are already in Rakhine state are advised to leave the state immediately,” the MEA said in an official release.

Also Read: Ghost of partition past lingers as Delhi mulls fencing British era India-Myanmar border

Last week, India expressed concerns over the “deteriorating” situation in Myanmar and called for an early resolution to the conflict.

The Myanmar crisis also found its mention in the MEA's weekly press briefing where it urged for the "complete secession" of violence and Myanmar's transition towards “inclusive federal democracy.”

Myanmar crisis

Notably, there has been a significant rise in violence in Myanmar over the past few months. To what can be termed as junta rule's biggest challenge since 2021, three ethnic minority forces launched a coordinated offensive against the military regime in October last year. The ethnic forces captured some towns and military posts as well.

In December last year, at least 151 Myanmarese soldiers fled to Mizoram to escape an armed ethnic group. They entered India after their camps in Myanmar were attacked by a pro-democracy ethnic group. The incident was among multiple cases when Myanmar soldiers entered India to save themselves from the attacks of ethnic minority forces.

In November 2023, as many as 104 soldiers crossed the India-Myanmar border and fled to Mizoram after their camps were overrun by pro-democracy militia- People's Defence Force (PDF).

The present situation in the country also led to a huge influx of people from Myanmar into Mizoram along the Indo-Myanmar border. It's been three years since the military seized power in Myanmar in a coup in February 2021.