NGOs oppose Bru rehabilitation in Mizoram

Aizawl, Nov 17 (UNI) The Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) and Young Mizo Association(YMA) today refused to accept Brus as bonafide citizens of the state.

In a joint meeting, YMA and MZP said they would not accept Brus as residents unless credentials of the cadres of the Bru Liberation Front of Mizoram (BLFM), who surrendered recently to the state government, were verified.

Expressing concern over the issue, they said the number of BLFM cadres could have increased from 100 to 804 in one year and added that outsiders were trying to infiltrate into the state through the Bru outfit.

YMA, the largest NGO in the state and MZP, an apex student body here, had opposed the rehabilitation of the Brus earlier but relented when the state government said only genuine Mizoram citizens, who had fled to Tripura in 1997, would be rehabilitated.

They also alleged that most of the Brus were from Assam, Tripura and neighbouring Bangladesh and were staying at refugee camps in North Tripura.

UNI BB PP PL PB DS1523