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800 Bru rebels surrender in India's Northeast state

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Guwahati, India, Oct. 26, IRNA
India-Mizoram-Rebel Surrender
More than 800 tribal separatists Thursday surrendered before authorities in India's northeastern state of Mizoram, bringing an end to about nine-years of insurgency in the region, officials said.

A police spokesman said 802 militants belonging to the Bru Liberation Front of Mizoram (BLFM) laid down arms before Mizoram home minister Tawnluia at a function held in village Tuipuibari, about 200 km south of state capital Aizawl.

"The government would provide free ration for one year and Rs. 40,000 to each of the surrendered rebels, besides reimbursing for the weapons deposited," the minister said at the surrender ceremony.

The rebels laid down a wide array of sophisticated weapons and explosives at the surrender function.

The BLFM was formed in 1998 following a violent ethnic clash between the majority Mizos and the Bru tribal people that left hundreds dead.

The clashes forced some 33,000 Bru people to leave Mizoram and take shelter in the forests of adjoining Tripura state.

The BLFM was fighting for an autonomous council for the Bru tribe in Mizoram. The Brus, a hardy but impoverished tribe, accounts for about 100,000 of Mizoram's one million people.

The surrender of the rebels was expected to pave the way for the repatriation of the 33,000 Bru refugees from Tripura to their villages in Mizoram.

"The Mizoram government would now take all possible steps to take back the Bru refugees," Tawnluia said.

The mass surrender follows an agreement reached between the Indian government and the Bru rebels in 2005 after New Delhi announced a financial package of Rs. 286.5 million for the repatriation of the tribal refugees from Tripura to Mizoram.

The mountainous Mizoram state, bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh, had witnessed 20-years of insurgency before a peace accord was signed in 1996 between the rebel Mizo National Front (MNF) and New Delhi. The MNF later joined politics and the party is now ruling this predominantly Christian state.

Former rebel leader and Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga was the second-in-command of the MNF during the insurgency movement.

Six of the seven states -- Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya -- have suffered the pangs of militancy since India's independence in 1947, leaving some 50,000 people dead.

There are at least 30 militant groups in the region at presents with their demands ranging from secession to greater autonomy and the right to self-determination.

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