AGARTALA, June 29- Assam Tribune: Taking a serious view of the delay
in repatriation of Reang (Bru)
refugees taking shelter in
Tripura, the Union Ministry of
Home Affairs (MHA) has set a
September deadline for the
return of 32,800 refugees.
At a meeting held in New Delhi on Friday, MHA officials asked
the Reang refugee leaders to
return to their homeland by the
stipulated time. They also asked
Mizoram Government officials
to finish the repatriation process by September.
The MHA officials made it
clear during the meeting over
the four-cornered agreement
signed earlier among the Home
Ministry, representatives of the
Mizoram and Tripura governments, and leaders of the Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s
Forum (MBDPF).
The MHA officials expressed
displeasure over the non-implementation of the agreement and set the fresh deadline.
Earlier, the Home Ministry had to
backtrack in the wake of the
refugees’ adamant attitude, due
to the Lok Sabha elections. But
this time around, the MHA
does not have any such compulsion and is determined to
implement the agreement on
repatriation, sources said. The
MHA officials made it clear to
the refugee leaders, headed by
their president A Saibunga, that
they are not ready to entertain
any condition or grievances regarding security concerns.
Meanwhile, the Mizoram
Govt has already initiated the
process of repatriation. A letter
has been sent to the District
Magistrate of North Tripura informing that a team of Mizoram
officials would visit Kanchanpur
from July 3 to 20 to undertake
the second phase of identification of the refugees. Once the
official formalities are completed, the repatriation of the refugees living in six Tripura relief
camps since 1997, will begin.
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