Bru Repatriation to Resume on Jan 12

Aizawl, Jan 4 :  An official meeting would be held in Mamit district in Mizoram tomorrow to discuss arrangements for the repatriation of Bru refugees from six relief camps in North Tripura, scheduled to resume from January 12.

Official sources said today that the meeting, at a place near Mizoram-Tripura border, would deliberate on different issues including transportation, identification of villages where the repatriated refugees would be resettled and distribution of free rations.

In another development, the Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum (MBDPF), the main anti-repatriation organisation among Bru refugees, agreed not to create obstacles during the proposed resumption of the refugee repatriation scheduled to begin from January 12.

Reports said that a meeting, convened by Suhas Chakma, Chairman of the Asian Centre for Human Rights at Kanchanpur in North Tripura on December 29 last, attended by Bru leaders including A Sawibunga, R Laldawngliana and Bruno Msha, respectively President, Vice-president and General Secretary of the MBDPF discussed the proposed repatriation at length.

The Bru leaders agreed that the proposed resumption of repatriation to begin from January 12 should not be obstructed but put conditions that negotiations must be held with the Centre and the State Governments of Mizoram and Tripura and that an agreement should be inked.

The issue would be further discussed among the Bru refugee organisations, Sawibunga said.