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Mizoram : Home-return dilemma for Hmar refugees |
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A three-member team from the Sakawrdai Hmar refugee camp in Mizoram on July 6 said they were at their wits’ end because they do not find the atmosphere in Manipur conducive to their return home.
L. Thuamluaia, chairman of the Manipur Hmar Refugees Advisory Board, told newspersons that it was threats that mainly forced the first few families to go back to their home in Manipur. He said the Ibobi Singh government had sent a three-member commission, comprising the civil SDO of Parbung and the Chief Medical Officer of Churachandpur and Zonal Education Officer of Churachandpur to threaten the first families to go back to Manipur.
“We were informed that everything had been done for our safe return and our future safety but the report that we received from back home is otherwise. We know for certain that armed forces have left the area and except for occasional patrolling, no armed forces are permanently stationed there. We prefer that more be done before we are forced to go home,” Thuamluaia said.
He added that the commission members also informed them that the longer they remain in Mizoram, the more angry the Meiteis (Manipuris) would become since Hmars fleeing the state was considered a “shameful incident” for them.
Though the Mizoram government had reported that 47 or 48 families had returned home to Manipur, Thuamluaia said it was only 42 families that have gone back and that too, reluctantly. He added that they only learned of the June 30 deadline of their return recently and this was part of the reason that these families had hurried back to Manipur.
The families still at the Sakawrdai refugee camp are desperate now since the Mizoram government has informed them they will be looked after only till July18, 2006.
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