Newmai News Network
Aizawl | September 29
Repatriation of over 4,400 Bru families from Tripura to Mizoram will begin on October 3, two days later than the earlier schedule.
Officials of the Home department said that the repatriation has been deferred due to some unavoidable circumstances, including Gandhi Jayanti which falls on October 2. They also said that the Bru inmates at Kaskau camp will be repatriated to Mamit district first, followed by refugees lodged at Naisingpara, Hazacherra and other camps.
The refugees will be resettled in Mamit, Lunglei and Kolasib districts.
Transportation will be arranged by the Mizoram government unlike it was done by Tripura government in the previous repatriation.
Kanhmun village on the Mizoram-Tripura border will be used as facilitation centre.
Meanwhile, the Bru refugees had raised new demands before the Mizoram government, which as they beg, should be fulfilled before the actual repatriation.
The Home department officials said that leaders of Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum (MBDPF) recently met Chief Minister Zoramthanga, demanding him that the Bru leaders should be allowed to conduct prior inspection of the village where the refugees are proposed to be re-settled to allow the refugees to settle down in a place of their choice as there is no enough land for cultivation in the proposed places where they will be resettled.
The Bru leaders also asked the Chief Minister to request the Centre to convene a joint monitoring group to deliberate the new demands made by the refugees before the final repatriation take place.
Thousands of Bru people from Mizoram had migrated to neighbouring Tripura due to communal tension in 1997. Since then they have been living in six relief camps in Tripura. The Centre provides ration to them.
In 2009, the first attempt was made to repatriate the refugees. However, the alleged murder of a Mizo youths by suspected Bru militants not only scuttled the repatriation, but also triggered another wave of Brus exodus from Mizoram.
Many repatriation attempts thereafter went futile as the Brus people were reluctant to return due to several reasons, including dissatisfaction with repatriation packages.
The repatriation this time will not cover those Bru families, who migrated to Tripura in 2009.
.jpg)
