Aizawl: Altogether 15 families returned on Friday which was the 2nd day of the repatriation of Bru refugees from 6 relief camps in North Tripura, a senior home
department official said.
With this, 51 families have returned so far from
Tripura and would be resettled in Mamit district on the border
with Tripura, he said.
Bru Coordination Committee general secretary Elvis
Chorkhy told a news agency over phone from Tripura that the second phase
of the repatriation would be taken up soon despite opposition
from anti-repatriation hardliners.
"At least 70 per cent of the refugees are willing to
return to Mizoram," Chorkhy said.
The Tripura government provided transport for the
refugees and security due to opposition from the newly-elected
Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum (MBDPF) and Bru Displaced
Welfare Organisation (BDWO) who tried to forcibly prevent the
refugees from returning to Mizoram.
The MBDPF and the BDWO have demanded that talks should
be held first between the representatives of the refugees, the
Centre and Tripura and Mizoram government before repatriation.
Thousands of Brus fled Mizoram in the later part of
1997 in the wake of the murder of a forest guard inside the
Dampa Tiger Reserve by Bru militants which triggered communal
tension and another wave of exodus occurred after a 17-year
old Mizo boy was gunned down by Bru militrants on November 13,
2009, 3 days before the commencement of the repatriation.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, November 04, 2010, 21:21