Treat repatriated Bru refugees fairly: Lal Thanhawla to Centre

Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla today demanded that the Bru families, who had returned to Mizoram from relief camps in Tripura on their own will, should be given equal treatment by the Centre.

Though some Bru families have already returned to Mizoram during a number of repatriation processes and on their own will, many of them refused to leave Tripura till date.

Addressing the ruling Congress party workers at the Congress Bhavan in Aizawl, Lal Thanhawla said that he had raised the issue with the Centre.

"I have expressed my opinion to the Centre that obedient Brus who returned to Mizoram during the government sponsored repatriation process should be given an equal deal and those who chose to remain in the relief camps despite repeated pleas should not be given undue favour," he said.

 

The chief minister said that discrimination of Brus who stubbornly stayed back in Tripura relief camps with those who have returned, in the form of rehabilitation package, could trigger serious confrontation between the members of the Bru community.

He said that he had warned of divide within the Bru community leading to possible law and order problem.

In accordance with the agreement inked during the first week of July in Delhi between the Centre, state governments of Mizoram and Tripura, and the Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum (MBDPF), all the Bru refugees were to be repatriated before September 30.

On Wednesday, the Mizoram government said that it would go ahead with the plan for final repatriation of the Bru families from relief camps in Tripura from August 14.

According to the agreement, Rs 4 lakh would be deposited in the account of the head of each repatriated Bru family, which would mature after three years, and a payment of Rs 1.5 lakh as housing assistance.

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

Altogether, 32,876 Brus belonging to 5,407 families are lodged in six relief camps in Tripura.

The Brus have taken shelter in Tripura since late 1997 in the wake of a communal tension triggered by the murder of a forest guard inside the Dampa Tiger Reserve on October 21, 1997 by Bru National Liberation Front militants.

The first attempt to repatriate them in 2009 failed and triggered another wave of exodus after the killing of a youth three days before the commencement of the repatriation process.