Bru head count in Mizoram to be completed by this month

Aizawl: Head counting of Brus lodged in six relief camps of Tripura would be completed before the end of this month, Elvis Chorkhy, president of the Mizoram Bru displaced people's forum (MBDF) said today.

The MBDF has been conducting the head count for the repatriation of the Brus following instructions from the state home department.

Chorkhy told PTI over phone from Naisingpara relief camp that besides Naisingpara and Asapara, the largest and second largest camps, the inmates of all the other camps have submitted lists from their respective camps.

"We could not complete the process sooner because many people in the camps can hardly read and write and they have made a number of mistakes," he said adding that the process would be completed by next week.

The Bru refugees were categorised into three groups -those who migrated to Tripura in 1997, who migrated in 2009 and former militants who had surrendered to the Mizoram authorities.

Thousands of Brus left Mizoram for Tripura following communal flare-up triggered by the murder of a forest guard by Bru militants in October 1997. Another exodus was triggered by the killing of 17 year old Mizo boy by Bru militants on November 13, 2009, three days before the repatriation was scheduled to begin.