Repatriation of Bru refugees
AIZAWL: The Government of Mizoram is waiting for a green signal from Tripura Government for resumption of repatriation process of the Bru refugees.
According to official sources from State Home department, the process of repatriation was temporarily stalled by officials of Tripura Government following tension in the border area in the aftermath of the death of Siberamriang.
But now, the situation has improved further with reopening of Langkaih Bridge which connects Mizoram and Tripura.
Meanwhile, Langkaih and Taitesena group Young Mizo Association (YMA) leaders also said that they will cooperate with the Government in the repatriation of the Bru refugees.
On May 7, in the wake of the move to resume the repatriation of the Bru refugees, Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP),the largest students’ body of Mizoram had asked the state government of Mizoram not to resume the repatriation process of Bru refugees from Tripura camp to Mizoram unless the refugees inform the government in writing that they are willing to come back to Mizoram.
The MZP leaders had said that the Bru people did not want to return to Mizoram when they were given chances five times by the Centre and the government of Mizoram as they left Mizoram for Tripura on their own volition.
It is pertinent to note that hundreds of Brus left Mizoram in 1997 and 2009. The first case was triggered when Bru militants murdered two Mizos who were forest guards on October 21, 1997.
The second case happened after a 17-year-old Mizo boy was killed by the Brus near Bungthuam village on November 13, 2009.
When the Bru left Mizoram they had driven out some Mizos in villages of Sakhan Hill Range in Tripura like Sakhan Serhmun, Sakhan Tlangsang, Sakhan Tualsen and Upper Dosda which had kicked up much ruckus in Mizoram then.
Meanwhile, a couple of years ago, head count conducted by the MBDPF found that there had been 31,703 Brus in the relief camps belonging to 5,448 families who were bona fide residents of Mizoram.
The repatriation of the 1997 batch of Bru refugees was underway until it stalled by the November 13 killing.
In the year 2011, conglomeration of major NGOs in Mizoram had submitted a joint memorandum to the then Union Home minister P Chidambaram to rehabilitate displaced
The memorandum was signed by representatives of four large NGOs in the state–the Young Mizo Association (YMA), the MZP, the Mizoram Upa Pawl (MUP) or elders association and the Mizo Hmeichhe Insuihkhawm Pawl (MHIP) or the women’s federation and four political parties.
The memorandum had mentioned that more than 80 Mizo families displaced from Tripura’s Sakhan Hill range in 1998 after being threatened by Bru militants should be adequately rehabilitated by the Centre, otherwise, the repatriation of Bru refugees from Tripura relief camps should not be allowed. (NNN)