4,447 Bru Families Refuse to Relocate to Mizoram

Aizawl, October 1, 2019:

The Bru relocation bid has failed once again as the refugees have refused to relocate to Mizoram. In a letter to the Mizoram Home Minister, the Bru representatives said that the transit camps are not fit for habitation.

Thus, the long-pending repatriation bid to relocate the Brus has fallen through yet again.

Political parties and civil societies of Mizoram on Monday appealed to all the Bru refugees living in relief camps in Tripura to return to their home state during the repatriation to commence from October 3.

Altogether 4,447 Bru families, lodged in six relief camps in Tripura, were scheduled to return to the neighbouring state from where they had fled since 1997 following ethnic clashes.

A meeting of the political parties and civil societies, convened by Home Minister Lalchamliana, also urged the people of the villages where the refugees were proposed to be resettled to welcome them, an official statement said here.

The ninth round of repatriation was scheduled to begin from October 3 and expected to be completed by November 30. However, things have now taken a different turn.

As a part of the repatriation, 2,051 Brus belonging to 364 families from four relief camps had been identified to be resettled in four villages of southern Mizoram's Lunglei district, bordering Bangladesh.