Five more Bru families return to Mizoram from Tripura

Five more Bru families were repatriated from relief camps in Tripura to their native Mizoram on Friday, a top Mizoram government official said.

Mizoram Home Secretary Lalbiakzama said at least 64 Bru families have returned from Tripura since the commencement of the 9th and final round of repatriation on October 3.

Lalbiakzama said the process to bring back 4,447 Bru families from the six camps in North Tripura district was scheduled to be completed by November 30.

He said some "anti-repatriation elements" had obstructed the exercise by organising road blockade at Asapara camp on Monday and Wednesday and also warned families willing to return to Mizoram against it.

Some such families still wanted to return to Mizoram, Lalbiakzama claimed.

Six Bru organisations, including the Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum (MBDPF), which had signed an agreement with the Centre and the governments of Mizoram and Tripura in Delhi on July 3, 2018, are opposing the repatriation efforts, he said.

Bru leaders like Phillip Apeto, general secretary of the Mizoram Bru Indigenous Democratic Movement, are insisting on creation of a separate autonomous district council under the 6th schedule of the Constitution to ensure that those belonging to the community, lodged in relief camps in Tripura for the last 22 years, do not lose their distinctive identity.