Herded into refugee camps in Tripura, the Reangs of Mizoram have fewer facilities than refugees from Sri Lanka and Tibet.

Dinomati Reang sits silently on a hilltop, immersed in thought, with no tears in her eyes as she gazes at the remains of the huts emerging from the ashes. She lost everything, including her two -and-a-half year old twins in that fire. She struggles to make sense of what has happened…. And still hopes beyond hope for a tomorrow that she does not know.

She stays silent.

Her husband, Anjuman Reang, tells us that they lost their girl child to malaria last year. And now, they have lost their two boys to the fire. He asks,“What is our fault?”

“Why are we punished several times?”

“We have no home to call our own. We are strangers in our homeland. Why? What have we done to deserve this?”

Discontent and despair is today synonymous with the 41,000 hapless Mizoram Reang tribe refugees, stranded in makeshift camps in the northern districts of neighbouring Tripura. Their ordeal continues unabated.  On the fateful forenoon of March 19, a devastating fire engulfed Naishingpara camp, 170km northeast of Agartala, Tripura’s capital. The inferno destroyed the entire camp before fire-fighters and security forces could do anything. The lack of rain in recent times hastened the spread of the fire. The result was horrific.

As many as 18 camp inmates, mostly children, were burnt to death. Another 50 were injured, some of them critically.  

Over 1,000 huts and belongings of these refugees were completely razed to the ground. Pigs, cattle, and birds were all burnt to ashes. This has been described as the most destructive fire incident that has ever taken place in north-east India. In a few hours a living, thriving campus was reduced to a cremation ground.

In a show of sympathy, the Central and State governments announced relief packages and cash compensation for the affected people. Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar visited the area and supervised the relief operation. But the real issue of forced migration has been left unresolved once again.   

The Reangs are a primitive tribal group from among the tribes of the northeast region of India, comprising eight States. The tribes constitute 26.93 percent of the northeast’s total population of over 3.8 crore (2001 census). Brueno Messai, a Reang refugee leader, asks the same question that Anjuman asks. Why? “What have we done to deserve this? Nobody is really helping us. We have no home to call our own. We can’t plough our land or raise our cattle. We only stay here (in the camp) with endless misery.” Many at the camp at Kanchanpur echo similar sentiments.

Brueno Messai tells us the story of the Reang migration and displacement, and how it is for the Reangs in Mizoram, a State within a supposedly secular, democratic and economically progressing India. Since October 1997, over 41,000 Reang tribal refugees, locally called Bru, have been forced to take shelter in six camps in north Tripura’s Kanchanpur sub-division, next to western Mizoram. They fled western Mizoram after ethnic clashes with the majority Mizos, following the killing of a Mizo forest official.

Government officials in Tripura, which has given this tribe refuge, say:

(a) Traditional rivalry between Mizo and Reang communities has led to this exodus. Mizos are more advanced in every aspect of life and look down upon the Reangs.

(b) The majority of Mizos resist the demand for exclusive Autonomous District Council for Reangs (Bru) and threaten and intimidate the Reangs living within Mizoram.

(c) The killing of a Mizo forest officer by some miscreants on 29 October 1997 resulted in retaliation from the Mizo community. The Mizos believed that the Reangs were responsible for this.

Most of the Reang refugees who are in the Tripura camps were original residents of the Mammit sub-division of Aizawl district. They fled in large numbers from Hrengdil, Darlak, Bunghnum, Taidor, Mathuampara, Dintharpara, Malthuampra and Tumpanglui regions of Mizoram. Fearing for their lives, a few families from Lunglei district of Mizoram and adjoining areas of Assam also migrated and took refuge in Tripura.

Reang refugees have been provided shelter in six relief camps in two areas -- one on the western side of Jampui Hills in the nearby areas of the Dasda-Anandabazar Road and the other on the eastern side of Jampui Hill, in the nearby areas of Damcherra-Khedacherra Road.  The most populous camp is at Kashirampur (Naishingpara).  Other camps are Longtharaikami (Ashapara), Hezacherra (all on the Dasda Anandabazar Road) and Kaskau, Hamsapara, Khakchang (all on the Damcherra-Khedacherra Road).

Mizoram’s Reang refugees living in Tripura for 14 long years have mostly been neglected, both by the Central and State governments.

The basic needs of life are lacking in their camps. There are no electric lines, drinking water is scarce and there are no schools in these refugee camps, unlike in the Lankan Tamil camps and Tibetan camps in India. The Reangs are treated as less than foreigners in their own country. Every year, there are many deaths in these camps due to water-borne diseases. There is also no scope for livelihood training or amusement; here amusement only means sex. Every family living in these camps has more than three children, though their living conditions are poor.

Puron Joy Reang wonders when this misery will stop? When his children will go to a real school? When he can plough his own field?

For 14 years, Reang tribals have been languishing in these Tripura camps but no serious positive steps have been taken by the Centre or the Mizoram government to end the uncertainty of their lives. Many frustrated youth from these camps have now set up their own extremist groups.

Repatriation programmes have been initiated several times, but all of them have faltered midway. The Mizoram government has suspended taking back tribal refugees from six relief camps in Tripura, saying a section of the refugees are militants.

The anti-repatriation groups, backed by suspected militants, not only block roads to prevent the refugees from returning to Mizoram, but even stop the State government officials from identifying bona fide residents of Mizoram among the refugees. Once again from 12 April this year, repatriation of tribal refugees from Tripura to neighboring Mizoram has begun.  However, there is still uncertainty over whether all the migrants here will return home.

What is the future of these 41,000 people? Will they be ever allowed to live in their homeland and plough their fields?  Will they spend their lives in refugee camps with minimum amenities of life and with no dreams of their own? Can anything be done to really repatriate these people and make their dream a reality?

by Tanmoy chakraborty