AIZAWL, Feb 2 ? The 10th round of talks between the Mizoram Government and the Tripura-based underground Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF) might run into rough weather even as both the sides expressed optimism that they would settle the Bru problem this time around.
An official, who is involved in the negotiations, told PTI on condition of anonymity that the State Government was having serious doubts that the agreement to be made with the BNLF would end the Bru insurgency against Mizoram.
?We doubt that the BNLF would be able to rein in Bru underground splinter groups like tha Bru National Front of Mizoram (BNFM) and the Bru Liberation Front of Mizoram (BLFM) now in the Chittagong hill tracts of Bangladesh,? the official said.
LT Hrangchal, Aizawl District Superintendent of Police and government delegation member, told PTI that the talks were held in an atmosphere of cordiality and mutual understanding and would continue till early next week. Harangchal said that the Mizoram Government delegation was led by the State Home Secretary C Ropianga and would be led by the State Chief Secretary HV Lalringa next week.
Surjomoni Reang, president of the BNLF led the outfit?s delegation which included top leaders like general secretary Solomon Prophul Ushoy, ?Army chief? Hmunsiama and ?Communication secretary? Bruto Meska. The three-member delegation of the Bru welfare Association of Mizoram was led by its president Biakmawia, who had been acting as go-between earlier, also participated in the talks.
The negotiations held here on Thursday and Friday last would be resumed on Tuesday and the State Chief Secretary H V Lalringa would lead the government delegation. While the Mizoram Bru Students Association has urged both the BNLF and the Mizoram Government to find an amicable solution this time to enable Bru children to answer examinations and enjoy normal life, denied to them for six years, the presence of rebel factions might make peace elusive, the official said.
The BNLF since late 1997 has been demanding a separate autonomous district council for the Brus, carving out north western parts of the state. But it recently changed its stand to demand a regional council and then a Bru area development council during the course of negotiations last year.
The talks, which began in September 2001, gained significance as the State Government insisted that repatriation of the Brus who had fled Mizoram to neighbouring Tripura in the last part of 1997 would not be implemented unless and until the BNLF eschew violence and come overground. The talks also would decide the fates of Brus now lodged in Kanchanpur sub-division of noth Tripura district since late 1977.