Tripura: Bru refugees urge Govt to address local resentment

Enewstime Desk

Agartala, January 18, 2020:  Thankful Bru refugee leaders urged government to intervene and resolve the palpable resentment among local people relating to permanent settlement of Bru refugees in Tripura.

Expressing gratitude to Union and State Governments, General Secretary of Mizoram Bru Displaced People Forum (MBDPF) Bruno Msha said, “This decision of permanent settlement of Bru refugees in Tripura taken by BJP-led  Central and State governments comes as an example of dynamic governance.”

On the issue of simmering resentment and protests being staged by some non-tribal groups and apolitical organizations, he said that they could not comment on that and hoped the government’s would also intervene to resolve the problem.

Bru refugee leader commits:

He also maintained that after becoming citizens of Tripura they would coordinate and cooperate with the people of Tripura as good citizens of the state.

“Now we will be becoming the citizens of Tripura. We have to forget our ancestral home land where we had been living since time immemorial. We will try our best to become good citizens of Tripura and will try to bring peace in the state. We will also try to have good combination among each other and every section of people, with tribal and non-tribal communities living here in the state” Msha said.

Bru refugee settlement agreement

Msha also termed the agreement historic as it has addressed a longstanding issue between neighboring states.

“On 16 the last of this month a historic quadripartite agreement was signed in New Delhi which sorted out the 22 years long issue of Bru displaced people and also a contention between the respective governments of Tripura and Mizoram. So, it is our duty to abide by the agreement and contribute to building the society” Bruno said.

Notably, the Brus took shelter here in the Tripura after being evicted from the neighboring Mizoram followed by ethnic clashes in the year 1997. Since then they were residing in several relief camps located in North Tripura district of Tripura.

After the pact signed on January 16 last at New Delhi under the mediation of Home Minister Amit Shah, a fresh identification drive will be initiated soon to prepare a database of all the 34,000 refugees within 15 days. The entire process of settlement is expected to take six months, Chief Minister of Tripura Biplab Kumar Deb told a media conference earlier on Friday.