Mizoram: Bru Refugees to Vote at Kanhmun Village in Mamit district

Mizoram: Bru Refugees to Vote at Kanhmun Village in Mamit district

Guwahati: Putting an end to all the speculations Mizoram’s new CEO Ashish Kundra said on Friday that over 11,000 Bru voters settling at six relief camps in North Tripura district will cast their vote at Kanhmun village in Mamit district of Mizoram,

Talking to the media at a press conference held at CEO’s conference hall, Ashish Kundra, said the Brus will exercise their franchise at Kanhmun village. He further said that the “Details are yet to be made as to how many polling stations will be installed,”

There are more than 11,000 Bru voters among the 30,000-odd Bru people living in camps in Tripura for the last 21 years after they were displaced following ethnic clashes. While Mizoram civil society groups said that casting of votes in Tripura’s camps could leave it open to manipulation, organisations representing displaced Bru people said that asking them to vote after travelling to their native villages which might take 2-3 days to reach would lead to a very low turnout. Kundra decision, on Friday, is seen as a bid to find a middle ground between the two opposing demands.

Stating that the decision to set up polling stations came after consultation with the NGO Coordination Committee, an umbrella committee comprising all the larger NGOs of the state, Kundra said, he had conveyed the imminent decision to civil society groups in Mizoram and they were “appreciative

While appealing to the people of Mizoram to maintain the tradition of peaceful elections in the state, Kundra said, "What's already done cannot be changed, I appeal to the people of Mizoram to move forward and carry on the beautiful tradition of Mizoram’s peaceful and fair election.”

The Brus, who left Mizoram following ethnic clashes in 1997, have been settling in relief camps in Tripura. The Bru exodus began in 1997 after some Bru miscreants killed a Mizo wildlife game watcher, leaders of the Brus persuaded and at some locations forced the Bru population to flee saying that the killing of the Mizo wildlife game watcher would trigger an ethnic violence.

Nine attempts have been made by the Mizoram government and the ministry of home affairs to repatriate the Brus, but only a few have returned.

A huge standoff between the dominant Mizos and the Brus came up after the election department’s initiative to let the Brus cast their vote at the relief camps. The spark ignited into bigger flames after the then Mizoram CEO SB Shashank filed a complaint against Lalnunmawia Chuaungo to the ECI alleging him of meddling with the election process. The NGO Coordination Committee, an umbrella committee comprising all the larger NGOs of the state protested against Shashank’s move and asked him to leave the state. Giving in to the demand of the NGO Coordination Committee, the Election Commission finally removed SB Shashank and appointed Asish Kundra, as the new CEO of Mizoram.

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