Mizos attack Reang camps

10 injured in alleged retaliatory strike

File picture of a Reang refugee camp Agartala/Silchar, Nov. 15: At least 10 inmates of the Khakchang Reang refugee camp in Kanchanpur subdivision of North Tripura were injured when a group of Mizo tribal youths invaded their dwellings and beat them up this morning. The attack comes at a time when the 35,000 Reang refugees stranded in six camps in Kanchanpur subdivision are hoping for early repatriation to Mizoram from where they had fled in October 1997 in the wake of attacks on them by the Mizos. The attack has led to fresh tension in the Reang-dominated villages dotting both sides of the border between Mizoram and Tripura. The Reangs are also known as Brus. Yesterday, too, a large group of Mizos had tried to attack the Khakchang refugee camp close the border but the officer-in-charge of Damcherra police station, Bhabatoksh Talukdar, rushed to spot on time. This morning, another group of Mizo youths crossed over to Khakchang camp and assaulted the Reang inmates. “As soon as we received information, Talukdar rushed to the spot. It seems a police picket will have to be posted near the Tripura-Mizoram border to prevent such attacks,” said Dipak Kumar, superintendent of police. The Mizoram government has placed all the police stations in Mamit, Kolosib and Aizawl districts on an alert. Tension had been simmering in a cluster of Reang hamlets scattered in Mamit district for the past two days following the killing of a Mizo youth, Zozai Zima, allegedly by Reang tribals. In retaliation, the Mizos torched at least 50 houses of the Reang residents in five villages — Kalaliang, Lakchicherra, Mamit, Dampariang and Khinlung — yesterday. The police in Kolosib town suspect the murder was the handiwork of the Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF) cadres, who had laid down their arms to the Mizoram authorities four years ago. A few people, all Reangs, were injured while trying to escape retaliatory attacks by the Mizos. A senior police official in south Assam’s Hailakandi district said today there were no reports of any exodus in the district bordering Mizoram of the Reang people fleeing the retaliatory attacks. Addressing a news conference in Aizawl this afternoon, Mizoram home minister Lalzirliana said effective security steps would be taken in west Mizoram to prevent the situation from snowballing. He said 270 houses have been burnt down in nine Reang villages in Mizo backlash. The government is committed to keep peace there at any cost, and reinforcements have already been sent to the disturbed areas from Aizawl, he added.