Agartala, July 9: The Reang demand for an Autonomous District Council, which had triggered their largescale exodus from Mizoram in 1997, has been revived by Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF) militants, who are fighting for the tribe?s autonomy in that state.
A decision to this effect was taken by BNLF leaders at a recent secret meeting in a forest hideout near the Assam-Tripura border.
Sources in the intelligence wing of the state police said the BNLF had slowed down its activities in Mizoram and North Tripura, hoping for a solution to the twin issues of repatriation of Reang refugees stranded in Tripura camps and autonomy for their tribesmen in Mizoram.
But the dilatory tactics adopted by the Mizoram government and its consistent refusal to consider either of the demands even after 10 rounds of peace talks, have induced rethinking in the BNLF ranks.
As part of the new offensive, Reangs settled in Mizoram and North Tripura observed martyrs? day today in memory of the 35 BNLF activists who were treacherously killed by National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) militants on July 9, 2001.
BNLF chief Surjyamoni Reang said over phone that NLFT militants had invited Bru activists to their hideout in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh to sort out organisational issues.
But in the course of the meeting, they had shot dead 35 BNLF rebels. A similar number, including Surjyamoni Reang, had managed to escape.
?We came to know later that the massacre had been pulled off by the NLFT at the instance of the government of Mizoram and in consultation with leaders of the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT), their political wing,? he added.
?If the Chakmas, Pawis and Lakhers in Mizoram can have district councils based on the Sixth Schedule, why not Reangs, who are the second largest community in the state?? asked Surjyamoni.
He asserted that from now on the BNLF would carry forward the Reangs? agitation for an ADC in Mizoram.
He said the BNLF will soon start its movement for an ADC for the Reangs in Mizoram.
He, however, did not indicate how the agitation would be launched and whether it would be an armed movement or a democratic agitation carried out by over-ground political groups like the Reang Democratic Party (RDP).
Reangs said his tribesmen, despite being the second largest tribal group in the state, were the most persecuted community in Mizoram.
Faced with ?discrimination and exploitation?, they had started demanding an autonomous council to protect their identity, culture and socio-economic interests.
The movement had gathered momentum in 1997 in southwest Mizoram. The RDP had launched an agitation for the council, which would comprise four Reang-dominated Assembly constituencies in southwest Mizoram.
In a retaliatory action, Mizo tribesmen had attacked the Reangs, forcing more than 30,000 people to flee the state. These refugees have been stranded in six camps of North Tripura?s Kanchanpur subdivision for nearly seven years now.