Ninety-eight families are making their way across from Tripura to 15
villages in Mizoram, carrying little but hope to rebuild lives destroyed
in the frenzy of a night. Report and photographs by ADAM HALLIDAY
It was a wintry night 16 years ago that they fled their villages, located in Mizoram's western districts of Mamit, Kolasib and Lunglei. Houses burnt down by angry Mizo groups, the Brus ran with what they could carry and didn't stop for three days, till they had put a state's boundary between them and their assaulters.
PHOTOS: After 16 years, 98 families return to Mizoram
On September 30, 98 of the 6,000 families — comprising 37,000 people — that fled that night began their way home. The week-long fifth phase of a repatriation process, that has only progressed in fits and starts and has been often disrupted by violence, eventually hopes to resettle more than 35,000 people.
Officials heaved a sigh of relief when of the 121 families expected to return in this phase, 98 registered. Last year, only seven out of 500 families did so. Till date, 1,035 Bru families have been resettled in 35 villages of Mizoram, but an estimated 5,000-odd remain in the camps.
***
The journey back began at the Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum (MBDPF) office at Naisingpara in north Tripura's Kanchanpur sub-division. As jeeps and trucks lined up to transport the refugees from the relief camps of Naisingpara and Asapara, people jostled around two desks to get themselves registered, under the watchful eyes of Assam Rifles and Tripura Police.
120 displaced families to return to Mizoram
The 15-odd vehicles were enough, for after 16 years living in small thatched houses, the refugees were returning with little to call own.
It was a wintry night 16 years ago that they fled their villages, located in Mizoram's western districts of Mamit, Kolasib and Lunglei. Houses burnt down by angry Mizo groups, the Brus ran with what they could carry and didn't stop for three days, till they had put a state's boundary between them and their assaulters.
On September 30, 98 of the 6,000 families — comprising 37,000 people — that fled that night began their way home. The week-long fifth phase of a repatriation process, that has only progressed in fits and starts and has been often disrupted by violence, eventually hopes to resettle more than 35,000 people.
Officials heaved a sigh of relief when of the 121 families expected to return in this phase, 98 registered. Last year, only seven out of 500 families did so. Till date, 1,035 Bru families have been resettled in 35 villages of Mizoram, but an estimated 5,000-odd remain in the camps.
***
The journey back began at the Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum (MBDPF) office at Naisingpara in north Tripura's Kanchanpur sub-division. As jeeps and trucks lined up to transport the refugees from the relief camps of Naisingpara and Asapara, people jostled around two desks to get themselves registered, under the watchful eyes of Assam Rifles and Tripura Police.
120 displaced families to return to Mizoram
The 15-odd vehicles were enough, for after 16 years living in small thatched houses, the refugees were returning with little to call own.
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