India begins deporting first group of Myanmar refugees who fled 2021 coup

Rohingya refugee children stand along a street at a refugee camp on World Refugee Day, in New Delhi on June 20, 2023. [AFP]

India on Friday began deporting the first group of Myanmar refugees who sought shelter there after a military coup in 2021 and plans to send back more in the coming days, weeks after saying it would end a visa-free border policy with Myanmar.

Thousands of civilians and hundreds of troops from Myanmar have fled to Indian states, where communities between the two countries share ethnic and familial ties, which has worried New Delhi because of the risk of communal tensions spreading to India.