''Considering the problems created by the Brus each time when their repatriation was in the offing, it is obvious that they are more interested in staying in the relief camps and get the Centre's sympathy than returning to Mizoram to lead normal life,'' the MZP said in a statement yesterday.
Bru repatriation plans had been derailed when Bru militants gunned down a Mizo youth of Bungthuam village in western Mizoram on November 13 last year.
The MZPs statement came after a Bru Welfare Organisation, formed by the Bru refugees, expressed their opposition to the governments plans to repatriate them, demanding 'pre-conditions'.
In a statement on October 13, the Bru Welfare Organisation demanded that the government meets its charter of demands failing which the organisation would oppose the repatriation to the end.
''We may organise sit-in demonstration or indefinite hunger strike in New Delhi and Aizawl. We may also stage economic blockade against Mizoram if need be,'' the organisation said in a statement.
There was a split among the refugees in six relief camps into two-those who supported the repatriation and those who opposed it. Pro-repatriation leaders such as Elvis Chorky and Surjimani Reang were ousted from the chairmanship of Mizoram Bru Displaced Peoples Forum and Bru Co-ordination Committee respectively.
Calling this a 'do or die' movement, the Bru Welfare Organisation claimed that the repatriation talks between the Mizoram government and the illegitimate Mizoram Bru Displaced Peoples Forum or Bru Co-ordination Committee 'would not bring us anywhere.' '' We will fight it to the end,'' they vowed.
~ Sinlung.com
