Mizoram tells BNLF men to surrender first

AIZAWL, February 20: The repatriation of Bru refugees from Tripura would begin after the activists of National Liberation Front (BNLF) come overground and lay down their arms, Mizoram Home Minister Tawnluia said. The State Government was ready for return of all the refugees, sheltered in Tripura camps, who were bonafide residents of Mizoram but the Bru rebel groups would have to lay down arms and return to normal lives first, an official release quoted Tawnluia as saying so on Friday. Leaders of the Bru Welfare Committee met the Minister on Friday and apprised Tawnluia of the miseries and hardships faced by refugees in the six refugee camps, and urged the Mizoram government to expedite the process of their repatriation. The State Government had all along maintained that the BNLF, which had carried on attacks against the State authorities in the last few years, must lay down arms before the Brus, who fled Mizoram in late 1997, return. The identification cell in the Aizawl district Deputy Commissioner's office had so far identified more than 11,700 names as bonafide residents of Mizoram out of the more than 30,000.