Mizoram Government Warns Bru Refugees to Stop Aid

GUWAHATI: The Centre, as well as the Mizoram Government, asked the Bru refugees, presently lodged in Tripura to return to their respective native villages located in Mizoram and warned that disobedience will force the government to stop free ration and other assistance from October.

Notably, the directive was disclosed following a meeting held among the officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Mizoram Home Department and police in Aizawl on Monday. During the meeting, the officials of MHA stressed that the Centre would stop giving free ration and other subsistence allowances to the Bru refugees from October 1 and would close down all the relief camps after repatriation is over.

It must be mentioned here that only three out of 5,407 Bru families had returned to Mizoram during the repatriation process between August 25 and 28. Two of the repatriated families were re-settled in Kolasib district, while one family was settled in Lunglei district.

According to an agreement signed on July 3 last, over 32,857 Bru tribal was supposed to return to Mizoram from August and was scheduled to be completed by September 30.

The transportation cost for the repatriated families would be borne by the Mizoram Government but no state government officials would be deployed at the relief camps to oversee the process.

The meeting, held on Monday was also attended by the leaders of Young Mizo Association (YMA), Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum (MBDPF), Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Coordination Committee (MBDPCC) and Equal Package Demand Committee (EPDC), representing Bru families that are already repatriated to Mizoram, also attended the meeting.