A coordination committee comprising all larger NGOs of Mizoram – NGO Coordination Committee has appealed to the ministry of home affairs to abide by the contents of the memorandum signed earlier in July concerning the homecoming of the Bru refugees.
In early July the ministry of home affairs, Mizoram government, Tripura government and the Mizoram Bru Displaced People Forum signed a joint agreement on the process of repatriation of the Brus languishing in northern Tripura. The parties agreed September 30, 2018 as the last date for repatriation.
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NGO Coordination Committee in a statement said that those Brus who were not willing to return within the stipulated time should not be allowed to be repatriated.
“The Brus left Mizoram out of their own choice, despite numerous attempts to repatriate them they refused and created problems for Mizoram as well as the centre. The ministry of home affairs should act as per the agreement signed, enough is enough,” the coordination committee statement read.
“For 22 years, eight attempts were made to repatriate them, it has been a repetition of failures, the state government and the centre have done their part, if they are reluctant, there has to be a time we shut our boundary. We strongly urge political parties of Mizoram not to organise election campaign of any sorts in Tripura for the coming election, we humbly request the political parties to make sincere efforts to delete voters who have refused to return,” the coordination committee said.
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The coordination committee also asked the state government to delete those reluctant Bru voters from Mizoram electoral rolls.