Mizoram to Take Joint Verification of Bru Refugees

Aizawl, Sep 5 : The Mizoram government and representatives of the Bru refugees, lodged in six relief camps in Tripura, have decided to take up joint verification on the proposed resettlement of the refugees once they are repatriated, Bru leaders today said.

Two leaders of the Bru Coordination Committee, Sujimoni Reang and Elvis Chorkhy, were in Aizawl to hold discussions on the issue with top officials of the state home department.

Chorkhy, who is also the president of the Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum (MBDPF), said that the refugees wanted to return soon and the Mizoram government asked each family to make up to four choices of the villages where they want to resettle.

The MBDPF had already submitted the lists of the refugees numbering 31,703 to the state government, who have been scrutinising people enrolled in the state voters' lists with the aid of Bru leaders."

We are pursuing necessary arrangements for the early repatriation," Chorkhy said, adding that they were working closely with the state government on the preparations.

Chidambaram, during his Aizawl visit on May 25, had urged the Bru leaders to ensure that all the refugees returned to Mizoram latest by the end of October.

Hundreds of Brus left Mizoram in 1997 and 2009 due to similar incidents when Bru militants murdered two Mizos, a forest guard in October 21, 1997 and a 17-year-old boy near Bungthuam village on November 13, 2009.