Mizoram Assessment 2014

A 20-year insurgency, in what was then the Lushai Hills District of Assam (after 1972, the
Union Territory of Mizoram) came to an end on June 30, 1986, with the signing of an
accord between the rebel Mizo National Front (MNF) and the Government of India (GoI).
The accord resulted in the creation of Mizoram as a State in February 1987. The end of the
insurgency, however, only solved the 'Mizo' (Lushai speaking people's) issues, leaving out
the State's minority tribes, such as the Hmars and the Brus. Nagging issues continue to
feed cycles of low grade strife, and the 'silent' activities of the Hmar under the Hmar
People's Convention-Democracy (HPC-D), and the issue of Bru (Reang) refugees, remain
unresolved, more than two-and-a-half decades after peace was restored to the State.
Unresolved Tensions
On February 9, 2014, the Mizoram Bru Displaced People's Forum (MBDPF) declared that repatriation
of refugees from Tripura to Mizoram would not be possible as long as three basic demands were not
fulfilled: financial assistance to each family should be enhanced from INR 90,000 to INR 150,000; free
ration for two years; and allotment of land under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest
Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.
Following the Assembly elections of November 2013, the new Government of Mizoram had initiated
steps to resume repatriation of Bru refugees sheltered in six relief camps in North Tripuras
Kanchanpur Subdivision. A. Sawibunga, President of MBDPF, stated, on February 9, 2014, We
heard that the Mizoram Government is on the move to resume repatriation of Reang refugees without
considering our basic demands. We are ready to resettle in Mizoram but provided the Government
takes steps to address our basic needs or requirement. Arguing that repatriation of Bru refugees is
not the only solution to the problem, A. Sawibunga added that the Government must pay heed to the
social demands of the Bru people, and that, Return of displaced Bru people could take place any
time after addressing genuine grievances of Bru people.
Congress leader Lal Thanhawla, at his swearing-in ceremony as the Chief Minister of Mizoram for the
second consecutive term, on December 14, 2013, declared that the future of Brus lodged in six relief
camps in Tripura would be taken up by his Government, and that the new Government would try its
best to end the problem. He, however, asserted that the Government would take steps to delete the
names of those who refused to be repatriated.
This declaration came even before the dust had settled, after scores of Brus fled Mizoram following
theabduction of three people [two Mizos and Deep Mondal, an official of a Delhi-based telecom
company and resident of Kolkata (West Bengal)] by Tripura-based National Liberation Front of Tripura
(NLFT) and Bru Democratic Front of Mizoram (BDFM) militants from Damparengpui village near the
Dampa Tiger Reserve in Mamit District of Mizoram on November 23, 2013. On December 6, Mizoram
Police officials stated that an NLFT cadre, who abducted the trio, had demanded a ransom of INR 50
million for Mondal's release. A senior Police official indicated that the ransom demand was made
directly to the telecom company. The abductors had not demanded any ransom for the two abducted
Mizos. On January 19, 2014, over 2,423 Bru, including women and children fled from Mizoram, and
sheltered in Tripura, after Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP, Mizo Students Federation), a powerful students'
union, reportedly began a mass voluntary search operation, on January 14, 2014, to find the abducted
men. "Over 2,423 men, women and children comprising 368 families late January 19 evening took
shelter in four villages in Tripura," a Tripura relief department official disclosed. The Brus from at least
three villages - Damdiai, Tumpanglui and New Eden - in Mamit District, fled to Tripura or had taken
refuge in nearby villages, fearing a repeat of the 1997-Bru-Mizo ethnic violence. On January 16,
2014, MBDPF President Saibunga alleged that a group of Mizo youth had perpetrated violence
against Brus living in the three villages on January 13, and accused the latter of maintaining
clandestine relations with banned militant outfits. Saibunga alleged, "They beat up the Brus and set at
least 13 house on fire, forcing the Bru families to flee the place and take shelter in camps in Tripura."
On January 21, 2014, the two Mizos were released by their abductors, after spending nearly two
months in captivity in the jungles of eastern Bangladesh. Despite subsequent warnings, Mondal is still
held captive. On January 23, the Young Mizo Association (YMA) had warned that Mizo people would
launch a mass search operation, if Deep Mondal, was not released during January. The MZP also
urged the abductors to free Mondal unconditionally and immediately or face the wrath of the Mizo
people, declaring, "We will not tolerate the Brus using the Mizos and non-tribal people working in
Mizoram for earning money by way of abduction for ransom."
This is the third round of ethnic tension between the Mizos and the Brus, the major one being that of
1997. The second exodus of the Brus to Tripura took place in 2009, during the first stage of
repatriation, following the killing of a Mizo youth by suspected Bru militants in November 2009.
The unfinished repatriation of Bru refugees from Tripura, who fled the State after the major ethnic
clashes of 1997, continues to be an issue plaguing Mizoram even after 17 years later. In the fifth
phase of repatriation (September 30-October 6, 2013), about 100 families from relief camps in the
Kanchanpur Subdivision of North Tripura District returned to Mizoram. 891 Bru families had earlier
been repatriated to Mizoram in four phases between May 2010 and May 2012, out of an estimated
35,000 Bru refugees in Tripura.
A March 6, 2014, report, however, claimed that the Bru refugee repatriation would be completed
before the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in April-May 2014. A meeting between the District Level Core
Committee on Bru Repatriation and the Rehabilitation Committee was also held on March 6, 2014, in
Mamit District in Mizoram, in this regard. However, given the current situation, this is unlikely to
happen. According to a March 15, 2014, report, the MBDPF has also sought arrangements of polling
booths in all the Bru relief camps of North Tripura District, so that the Bru refuges can exercise their
franchise in the elections scheduled to be held on April 9, 2014, without any trouble, adding that only
a few voters were able to cast their votes in the November 2013 Mizoram Assembly elections. The
Forum also alleged that the community-based Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) of Mizoram
vehemently opposed the setting up of polling booths in relief camps in Tripura, effectively deleting the
names of Bru refugees from the existing Electoral Roll. On February 5, 2014, moreover, major civil
society organizations in Mizoram had asked the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) V.S. Sampath to
delete the names of Bru voters, who were in six Tripura relief camps from the Mizoram voters' lists if
they did not return to Mizoram by February, 2014. A March 18, 2014, report further observed that
Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla, in the preceding week, had submitted a memorandum to the
CEC, urging him not to allow Bru refugees living in relief camps in Tripura to exercise their franchise
in the April 9 elections to the State's lone Lok Sabha seat. The Chief Minister asserted that if the Bru
voters wanted to exercise their franchise, they should cast their votes inside Mizoram, not in the relief
camps through postal ballots.
Further, knowing about the difficulties faced by Bru returnees to Mizoram, the displaced Brus are
apprehensive about returning to Mizoram unless both the Central and State Government take
favorable steps to resolve their demands.
Meanwhile, the stalled talks between the Mizoram Government and the insurgent Hmar People's
Convention - Democracy (HPC-D), which resumed in State capital Aizawl on August 14, 2013, ended in
a deadlock. HPC-D and the Government of Mizoram had signed a Suspension of Operations (SoO)
Agreement at Aizawl, on January 31, 2013, for a period of six months, after several months of tense
negotiations. The HPC-D had also received a major setback on June 10, 2012, when SFs arrested
two top leaders of the group, army chief Lalropuia and deputy army chief Biaknunga, at the
Kumbigram Airport located in Silchar, Cachar District, Assam. Again, on July 18, 2012, H.
Zosangbera, the 'chairman' of HPC-D, was arrested from Indira Gandhi International Airport in New
Delhi, by a combined team of the Mizoram and Delhi Police. However, all the three leaders were
released on bail and talks were initiated again in 2013.
The unresolved challenges of the State are further compounded by occasional activities of militant
groups from neighbouring states engaging in abduction and arms smuggling, using Mizoram as a
conduit.
According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) database, the State recorded two incidents of
abduction in 2013 [the November 23 incident and an earlier February 19 incident; the NLFT and Brus
were involved in both the incidents] resulting in eight persons abducted. In 2012 as well, the NLFT
had abducted 12 persons in two incidents; six on November 25, including three Tripura residents, two
timber merchants and one driver, from Rajibnagar village, in Mamit District; and another six on March
26, all executives of the Assam-based Anupam Bricks and Concrete Industries (ABCI), including
residents of Assam, Punjab, and Rajasthan, from the Lunglei District.
Mamit District Superintendant of Police, Rodingliana Chawngthu, on January 25, 2014, disclosed that
several steps had been taken to curb the activities of the NLFT and BDFM along the international
border with Bangladesh: "The area is heavily forested and falls inside a tiger sanctuary. We have now
got the Border Security Force (BSF) carrying out joint patrolling with Forest Department personnel
who know all the tracks inside the forest. A permanent Border Out Post will also be set up at the
location where Mondal was abducted."
Significantly, the BSF submitted a list of 66 militant camps operating from Bangladesh, to the Border
Guard Bangladesh (BGB), during a three-day bi-annual border coordination meeting [March 7-9,
2014] between the BSF inspector-generals and BGBs region commanders held in Shillong
(Meghalaya). On June 12, 2013, during a meeting with Mizoram Chief Minister, BSF officials had
stated that at least 27 camps of different insurgent groups were still located in Bangladesh near the
Dampa Tiger Reserve in Mamit District of Mizoram. Significantly, according to an April 29, 2013,
report, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) has set a 2014 deadline to complete the fencing
along the India-Bangladesh border. Mizoram shares unfenced borders with Myanmar (404 kilometres)
and Bangladesh (318 kilometres) of which nearly 62 kilometres of the border with Bangladesh in
Mamit District is unfenced.
The issue of arms smuggling also remains a concern. SATP recorded five incidents of arms seizure in
2013, as against three incidents [resulting in seven smugglers arrests] in 2012. Eight smugglers were
arrested in 2013. The biggest arms seizure in the State [31 AK-47 assault rifles, one Singapore-made
Light Machine Gun (LMG), one US-made Browning automatic rifle, 809 rounds of ammunition, and 32
magazines] was on March 7 and 8, 2013, from a farmhouse near the Lengpui Airport, on the outskirts
of State capital, Aizawl. The consignment was meant to be delivered to the Parbotia Chatagram Jana
Sangata Samiti (PCJSS), a group claiming to fight for the rights of the indigenous people of the
Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) tribes of Bangladesh.
With a multiplicity of challenges still facing the State, the Mizoram Government, on June 15, 2013,
demanded Security-Related Expenditure (SRE) support for the State. On June 5, 2013, Mizoram
Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla, while addressing the Conference of Chief Ministers on Internal Security
at New Delhi, argued that various militant groups from neighbouring States in the Northeast, as well
as from countries such as Myanmar and Bangladesh, had taken advantage of the porous and
inhospitable terrain along Mizoram's interstate and international borders.
Despite an enduring peace after an agonizing twenty years of insurgency, a variety of issues,
principally the result of ethnic tensions and overflows of insurgency from the neighbourhood, continue
to rankle in Mizoram.