Brus cancel protest rally

Bru people lodged in relief camps in Tripura today cancelled their proposed protest rally in Mizoram's Mamit district as the administration did not give them permission to hold the rally, police said.

The inmates of the relief camps in North Tripura district, under the aegis of a newly-formed Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Coordination Committee (MBDPCC) had asked for permission for holding a rally between Kanhmun an Zawlnuam villages, but the permission was not given by the Mamit district administration, police said.

The permission for the rally was not granted as district administration apprehend that the rally may heighten communal tension, officials said.

The MBDPCC, a breakaway group of the Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum (MBDPF) is opposed to the agreement of July 3 in which the Centre, Mizoram and Tripura governments and MBDPF were signatories.

The agreement stated that all the Bru refugees were to be repatriated before September 30.

The agreement stipulated that Rs four lakh for each repatriated Bru family would be deposited in the bank account of the head of the family which would mature after three years and payment of Rs 1.5 lakh as housing assistance.

Each repatriated Bru family would be given Rs 5,000 through Direct Benefit Transfer every month and a free ration for two years.

Thousands of Brus are lodged in the Tripura relief camps since late 1997 in the wake of a communal tension triggered by the brutal murder of Lalzawmliana, a forest guard inside the Dampa Tiger Reserve on October 21, 1997 by Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF) militants.