Right to Return for Bru Displacees

In the first edition of Refugee Watch Online we had published an interview with representatives from Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum who had pointed out that they wanted to go back to Mizoram1. In May 2012, not a single Bru displaced people wanted to return back because they are scared of the socio-economic consequences they have to face when they return.

According to a report published in Economic Times not a single Bru displacee returned to Mizoram on the last day of the “repatriation” process that the Government of Mizoram had arranged with their counterparts in Tripura at Mamit ( a place bordering Tripura and Mizoram). The representatives of the Mizoam Bru Displaced People’s Forum expressed their anxiety indicating that around 85 % of the displaced people staying in the camps of Tripura would be treated as second class citizens as their names would not feature in the voter’s list prepared in 1995. According to the representative of Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum, “Mizoram Government had agreed to take back only those refugees whose names figured in the final voters list published in 1995.”2 Apart from that they also expressed concerns that they will not be able to participate in the jhum cultivation and will lose out on a year’s harvest. They reportedly submitted their demands to the Union Home Ministry and the Mizoram Government.

For details see :

1.http://refugeewatchonline.blogspot.in/2012/03/we-want-to-go-back-to-mizoram.html.
2. ‘Fourth phase of repratriation of Bru Refugees from Tripura fail’ http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-05-16/news/31726960_1_repatriation-of-bru-refugees-mamit-mizoram-government; Accessed on 22 May 2012