Friday, May 10, 2013

Tripura asks Mizoram to expedite Bru repatriation

AIZAWL, May 11 : Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has asked Mizoram government to expedite the repatriation of Mizoram Bru refugees lodged at several camps in Tripura. The information has been conveyed to the eleven members of Mizoram Journalists’ Association (MJA) who had recently visited the neighbouring state of Tripura on press tour and called on the Tripura Chief Minister in Agartala.

Manik Sarkar also asked the Bru refugees to avail the opportunity created by the Centre and Mizoram government for their repatriation and also asked them not to expect solution to all their problems at a time. He added that the government will take up the problems in phase manner to address their problems. 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.  The MZP also expressed concern over the increasing law and order problem in the border area including kidnapping of Mizos by the Brus for ransom.

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 Mizos in Tripura and stall the ongoing repatriation of Brus from Tripura to Mizoram. 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.