Mizo Students Against Bru Rehabilitation

Aizawl, May 8 : The Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), the apex Mizo student body, has advised the Mizoram government not to undertake the repatriation of Bru refugees, proposed to begin by the end of May, unless the refugees promise in writing that they are willing to return to Mizoram.

The MZP leaders, while addressing a press conference in Aizawl, said that the Brus migrated from Mizoram to Tripura and settled in the North Tripura district of their own will and refused to return despite the concerted efforts of the Centre and the Mizoram government.

"The Union ministry of home affairs and the governments of Mizoram and Tripura worked out a road map and set the dates for repatriation in 2012 as April 26, May 4, May 8, May 11 and May 15," the student leaders said, adding that, the refugees failed to return despite elaborate arrangements being made and rehabilitation and resettlement packages in place.

Pleas of the then Union home minister, P Chidambaram, to the Bru communities in the relief camps also went completely unheeded, they said.

If the Brus continue to refuse to come back, their names should be deleted from the Mizoram voters' lists and should be enlisted in Tripura's electoral rolls, the MZP said. The student leaders also said that armed goons belonging to the Bru community have been sending extortion notes to Mizo villagers in the areas along the state's border with Tripura and Assam.

"While the Brus are indulging in criminal activities and are whipping up communal tension in the northwestern belt, it is not advisable to resume the repatriation process," they said.

Meanwhile, the state government, following the directions of the Centre, made arrangements to bring back the Bru refugees by the latter part of this month.