Only 55 Bru refugees return to Mizoram

AIZAWL, April 28 – Only 55 Bru refugees, belonging to 12 families, returned to Mizoram from Naisingpara relief camp in neighbouring North Tripura district today as the officials were making arrangements for the return of 123 families, a senior police official said.

H Sangawia, SP of Mamit district on Tripura border, said that though the officials had initially expected that at least 53 families would be repatriated today, the majority refused to return.

“I do not know why they turned against as I could not contact the officials who went to Tripura to oversee the repatriation process,” he said.

But those, having returned, would be brought to the villages where they were supposed to be resettled from the facilitation centres in Kanhmun and Tuipuibari villages.

One official, who did not want to be named, said that many refugees refused to return due to ‘instigations’ by anti-repatriation leaders.