Bru refugee Identification soon

AIZAWL, May 23 – Mizoram government officials posted in the districts adjoining Tripura and Bangladesh would soon conduct identification of Brus in six relief camps in Tripura to find out who are bona fide residents of the state and their descendants.

“The officials would coordinate with the NGOs in the identification process,” chief secretary Vanhela Pachuau told PTI, adding that the criteria would “include enrollment in the Mizoram voters’ lists and knowledge of Mizo language” amongst others.

Meanwhile, Young Mizo Association, the largest NGO in the state has announced that Bru refugees who are bona fide residents of Mizoram are welcome to return.

Thousands of Bru community migrated to Tripura in the late 1997 due to communal tension and were lodged in the six relief camps in North Tripura district’s Kanchanpur Sub-Division since then. The Mizoram government and the Ministry of Home Affairs recently decided that the refugees would be repatriated to Mizoram.