More Bru Families Return to Mizoram

Aizawl, Nov 7 : Altogether 15 families today returned on the second day today of the repatriation of Bru refugees from six relief camps in North Tripura, a senior home department official said.

With this, 51 families have returned so far from Tripura and would be resettled in Mamit district on the border with Tripura, he said.

Bru Coordination Committee general secretary Elvis Chorkhy told PTI from Tripura that the second phase of the repatriation would be taken up soon despite opposition from anti-repatriation hardliners.

“At least 70 per cent of the refugees are willing to return to Mizoram,” Chorkhy said.

The Tripura Government provided transport for the refugees and security due to opposition from the newly-elected Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum (MBDPF) and Bru Displaced Welfare Organisation (BDWO) who tried to forcibly prevent the refugees from returning to Mizoram.

The MBDPF and the BDWO have demanded that talks should be held first between the representatives of the refugees, the Centre and Tripura and Mizoram government before repatriation.

Thousands of Brus fled Mizoram in the later part of 1997 in the wake of the murder of a forest guard inside the Dampa Tiger Reserve by Bru militants which triggered communal tension and another wave of exodus occurred after a 17-year old Mizo boy was gunned down by Bru militrants on November 13, 2009, three days before the commencement of the repatriation.