Agartala/Aizawl: The repatriation of 36,000 Reang refugees from Tripura to Mizoram is hanging in the balance again as most of the tribals are unwilling to return to their villages without a written agreement for their safety, security and livelihood, officials said on Wednesday.
“The Tripura government has communicated the refugees’ reluctance to return to Mizoram to the union home ministry.”
“We have also urged the home ministry to take immediate suitable steps to repatriate the tribal refugees to Mizoram,” Tripura Revenue Secretary Swapan Saha told IANS in Agartala.
“A total of 669 tribal families, comprising about 3,655 men, women and children, are scheduled to be sent back in five phases between April 26 and May 15. But only 41 refugees of seven families went to Mizoram during this period,” Saha said.
He said: “On the request of Mizoram, the Tripura government has provided all logistical supports, including security and vehicles, to carry the refugees to their villages in western Mizoram’s Mamit district. But most refugees were reluctant to go to their homes before getting written guarantees from Mizoram.”
“Tripura and Mizoram government officials have tried their best to persuade the refugees to go to their homes in Mizoram.
The persuasion continued till late Tuesday, but the refugees were adamant not to go home unless their 18-point charters of demands were fulfilled by Mizoram and the central government,” the official said.
The 18-point demands charter of the refugees includes a written agreement between the Mizoram, Tripura and the central governments and refugee leaders, ensuring livelihood to the Reang tribals in Mizoram, and constitution of a monitoring committee to supervise the settlement of home-bound refugees, sheltered in Tripura for the past 15 years.
Since October 1997, over 41,000 Reang tribal refugees, locally called Bru, have taken shelter in six camps in north Tripura’s Kanchanpur sub-division, adjacent to western Mizoram.
They fled their villages in Mizoram after ethnic clashes with the majority Mizos over the killing of a Mizo forest official. (IANS)