Last and final Bru tribal repatriation process to start on June 2

The repatriation process of Bru tibals is likely to be completed by September.

Officials in Mizoram’s western districts will begin verifying displaced Bru tribals in the Tripura relief camps they are currently lodged in on June 2 as the first step in the last and final repatriation process for the displaced tribals.

Mamit district Deputy Commissioner Vanlalngaihsaka said Wednesday he also held a meeting with various elected local-level leaders and leaders of community-based organisations to apprise them of the government’s plans.

“All the groups have pledged their coooperation and said they will also look out to make sure no untoward incidents happen before and during the repatriation process,” Vanlalngaihsaka told The Indian Express.

Mizoram officials will undertake the first verification process in Kaskau relief camp to see whether the Bru tribals lodged there are originally from Mizoram and, once that is complete, will provide transportation for the tribals to return to Mizoram.

The verification process will then proceed to the other five relief camps, he added.

Officials in Mizoram’s Home Department have said the repatriation process is likely to be completed by September.

Mamit district is set to welcome home almost 2600 Bru families while neighbouring Kolasib and Lunglei districts are set to host several hundred families in total.

The Supreme Court earlier this year approved an agreement reached between Mizoram, Tripura and the Union Home Ministry that any displaced Bru tribal who continues to refuse to return to Mizoram under the repatriation process will be deleted from Mizoram’s electoral rolls (they continue to vote for elections in Mizoram from Tripura) and the relief camps closed.

Tens of thousands of Bru tribals fled Mizoram in 1997 following ethnic violence between them and the majority Mizos following the murder of a Mizo official by Bru militants.

They made their way to Tripura where the neighbouring state put them in designated relief camps where they have been lodged ever since. Tripura has said time and again Mizoram should take back the tribals.

Six phases of the repatriation process has been organised since 2010 but these have met with limited success, partly because relief camp leaders have rejected the compensation package saying it is too less.

Source:: Indian Express