AIZAWL, June 2: As the
Mizoram Government prepares for final repatriation of
Bru refugees from Tripura,
the Mizoram Bru Displaced
People’s Forum (MBDPF),
the umbrella organisation of
the refugees, has demanded
that all “pending issues” be
settled before the repatriation
takes off.
According to the MBDPF,
about 1,000 families “were
still uncertain about their security post repatriation and
therefore unwilling to return
to Mizoram.”
During the last identification
conducted in 2016, Mizoram
had identified 32,876 Bru people belonging to 5,407 families
as bona fide residents of Mizoram. They are currently
lodged at six camps in North
Tripura. In the re-identification
process in 2018, only 2,753
people belonging to 423 families expressed their willingness to return to Mizoram, the
forum said.
MBDPF general secretary
Bruno Msha said that after 1997, which was the year the
first wave of Bru families fled
to Tripura following ethnic conflict, there have been at least
1,000 new families who have
to be identified by the Mizoram Government and made
eligible for repatriation, rehabilitation and relief.
“Besides, the Bru people
want to settle in a contiguous
area in Mizoram for their own
safety, integrity, unity, preservation of culture, language and
identity. As such, we want the
rehabilitation centres located in
a contiguous area. Currently,
they are scattered, with a few
of them on the outskirts, which
is not suitable,” Msha said.
The forum further pointed
out that bank accounts of the
camp inmates have to be
opened and requisite identification documents such as Aadhar cards, etc., generated.
“These are issues which we
think the Centre and State
Government can sort out for
the repatriation to begin. We
are optimistic that all pending
issues would be sorted out in
the next few months,” he said.
The MBDPF had in November last year submitted a
memorandum to the Centre
and Mizoram Government in
regard to the pending issues.
As a partner in a quadrilateral agreement (between the
Centre, Tripura and Mizoram)
signed in July last year, MBDPF has been pressing for
implementation of the Bru
repatriation process since the
signing of the agreement.
A senior official in the State
Home department said preparations are on to repatriate
over 32,800 Bru refugees from
Tripura to Mizoram, which is
likely to begin in October.
State Home additional secretary Lalbiaksangi said the final phase of repatriation of
over 5,000 Bru families lodged
at six relief camps in Tripura
will be conducted as per the
agreement between the Mizoram Government and civil
society groups ahead of Lok
Sabha polls. “Though the actual date has not been decided
the State Government is planning to conduct the proposed
repatriation after the rainy season most probably in October,” she said. ~Assam Tribune
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