REANG tribal refugees, sheltered in six North Tripura camps since October 1997, have urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take immediate steps for their repatriation to Mizoram and for permanent settlement.

A delegation of Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum (MBDPF) led by their President Elvis Chorkhy and General Secretary A Sawibunga met Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar here today and submitted a memorandum addressed to the Prime Minister explaining their plight, problems and demands.  The refugees demanded immediate central intervention to repatriate them to Mizoram and for permanent settlement besides solution of other problems. 

‘’It is not fair that Mizoram government is enjoying the peace bonus from the Centre while the people of the state were suffering miserably in relief camps,’’ the memorandum said. ‘’It is also very unfortunate that Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga has been acting as a peace broker between the Centre and the NSCN (IM), forgetting the serious problems faced by tribal people of his own state.’’ Over 31,000 reang tribal refugees have been staying in six North Tripura camps for about seven years after they left their villages in Mizoram following ethnic violence there.

The refugees alleged in the memorandum that when Reang tribals under the banner of Bru National Union (BNU) reiterated their demands for constitution of an Autonomous District Council for Reang tribals in 1997, a section backed by some non-government organisations started attacking them. ‘’These people torched 41 villages dominated by Reang tribals and indiscriminately attacked them and raped more than 41 tribal women. A quit Mizoram notice was also served on them,’’ they said. The memorandum also said that 45,000 Reang tribals were forced to leave Mizoram to take shelter in neighbouring Tripura, Assam and even Bangladesh and Myanmar because of the incidents of violence. Despite several rounds of talks between refugee leaders and Mizoram government the ethnic problems remained unresolved, the MBDPF leaders added. The refugees also urged Mr Singh to upgrade and provide relief equivalent to Kashmiri Pandits. ‘’Despite the direction of the National Human Rights Commission to the Centre and Mizoram government to solve the refugee problem and repatriate the refugees to their home state, no such steps had been taken so far,’’ the eight-page memorandum said. Hindi in Mizoram Mizoram, where English and Mizo are pre-dominantly spoken, will introduce Hindi in schools at the primary level from the next academic session in an effort to popularise the language and strengthen the bonds between the Mizos and Hindi speaking people.

Mizoram Information and School Education Minister R Lalthangliana informed that the Centre had approved the proposal and Hindi would be introduced at the primary level in all government schools   from the next academic session in the state, which has the second highest literacy rate in the country after Kerala. “Presently Hindi is being taught in Mizoram from class six. But the state government want to popularise the language and provide theMizo youths a     platform to compete with their counterparts in rest of the country,’’ the Minister said.

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