Ex-Bru rebels threaten to go back to refugee camps

Aizawl, Apr 17(UNI) The surrendered Bru Liberation Front of Mizoram (BLFM) today warned of returning to Tripura refugee camps than wait for their full rehabilitation.

Alleging that they have not received the rehabilitation package in full, former BLFM foreign secretary Edwin Chorky threatened , ''If by April there is no positive action from the Centre as well as the state government, we will go back to the refugee camps in Tripura.'' Ministry of home affairs secretary Shantanu Consul, during his recent visit to Mizoram, had made it clear to the surrendered Brus that the Centre would not go beyond Rs 20,000, which is an addition to the Rs 30,000 already been given to them after their surrender in 2006.

However, the BLFM leader said that they also made it clear to the central official that they would not accept the Centre's offer.

BLFM was a small faction of the Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF), formed at the time when the Mizoram government signed a MoU with the BNLF in 2005.

The Centre on the other hand reiterated that the BLFM was a small faction and as they had surrendered on their own they could not be given rehabilitation package equivalent to what had been given to BNLF cadres, said Mizoram home secretary C Ropianga.

A rehabilitation fund of Rs 80,000 was given to each of the BNLF cadres who came overground following the 2005 agreement with the Mizoram government.

'' We will take our grievances to the state government, and if there is no positive response, we may move to Delhi to stage an indefinite fast there,'' Chorky said.

UNI ZS KK KLC1725