Mizoram Timeline Year - 2013

January 2

Mizoram State Home Minister R Lalzirliana said that the Government is making arrangements to hold negotiation with the Hmar militant outfit HPC-D.

The Mizoram government is pushing for early resumption of talks with the militant group HPC-D. This development comes in the aftermath of the Election Commission's announcement to hold by-election to the Chalfilh assembly constituency on February 23. A large number of the Chalfilh electorate belonged to the Hmar community and would be highly influenced by the diktats of the HPC-D leadership.

The Mizoram Government will meet the HPC-D, ahead of the upcoming by-poll to the Chalfilh Assembly constituency. The two sides are scheduled to meet on January 31 to discuss the modalities of peace, an official source said. The first round was held in Silchar, Assam, on December 13, 2012.

After several months of suspense, the Hmar militant outfit, HPC-D and the Government of Mizoram have signed the SoO in Aizawl. An official source informed. Mizoram Government team was led by Lalbiakzama, Joint Secretary, Home department, while the HPC-D delegation was led by Lalbeisei, the outfit's vice chairman.

The two teams in their talk prepared 'ground rules and then signed an agreement for SoO for 6 months duration. The two teams also agreed to hold another talk at the earliest possible.

After signing the SoO pact with the Government of Mizoram for six months, the HPC-D, has said that at least two round of talks will be held with the Government during this six-month period. "The two parties also mutually agreed to hold at least two rounds of peace talks for a political solution during 6 months SoO period," John F Hmar disclosed.

According to the HPC-D leader, the ground rules for implementation of SoO between the Government of Mizoram and the HPC-D was signed by representatives of the Mizoram Government and the outfit at the State Guest House, Aizawl (Mizoram) after an exchange of views to initiate a peace dialogue in the common interest of finding a permanent political solutions to the Hmar political issues in Mizoram.

According to latest Government report, at least 4834 militants of different outfits across seven states in North Eastern (NE) region were killed in counter-insurgency operations from 2001 to 2012. During the period, at least 1909 militants were killed in Manipur, while 1777 were killed in Assam, 536 in Nagaland, 307 in Tripura, 105 in Arunachal Pradesh and 9 in Mizoram.

According to the Government report, in a single year, highest number of militants were killed in Manipur in 2008.In Manipur, 341 militants were killed in 2008, while 161 were killed in the year 2001, 101 in 2002, 148 in 2003, 127 in 2004, 143 in 2005, 141 in 2006, 218 in 2007, 321 in 2009, 104 in 2010, 30 in 2011 and 74 in the year 2012.

In other hand, the year 2001 recorded the highest number of militant fatalities under counter-insurgency operations in Assam. In Assam, a total of 1777 militants were killed during the period, in which, 275 were killed in the year 2002, 281 in 2003, 136 in 2004, 83 in 2005, 43 in 2006, 149 in 2007, 133 in 2008, 196 in 2009, 98 in 2010, 45 in 2011 and 55 in 2012.Most of the militants killed during counter-insurgency operations were from United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA)," a top official of the Assam Police said.

In Meghalaya, 191 militants were killed during the period, the breakups being - 8 in the year 2001, 17 in 2002, 27 in 2003, 23 in 2004, 26 in 2005, 17 in 2006, 13 in 2007, 12 in 2008, 4 in 2009, 17 in 2010, 8 in 2011 and 19 in 2012.

A meeting of civil society organisations convened by ZRO at Aizawl in Aizawl District in Mizoram resolved to support the demand for creation of a Kuki State. Leaders of MSU, Mizoram Chiefs' Council, former MNF leaders, KSDC and other civil groups attended the meeting. KSDC is agitating for a separate Kuki State incorporating Kuki inhabited areas of Manipur.

Apart from resolving to support the Kuki state demand, participants resolved to appraise the UNHRC about the alleged atrocities by NSCN-IM and Meitei militants on Kuki people. The participants also resolved to put pressure on the Centre and the Manipur government for a political solution to the Kuki problem before any political settlement with the NSCN-IM.

The MBDPF led by A Sawibung has finally succeeded in bringing the issue of repatriation of Bru refugees from Tripura relief camps to Mizoram on the negotiating table with the State Government. Bruno Msha, general secretary of the Naisingpara (Tripura) camp-based MBDPF, said they received a letter from the State home department for talks to be held on February 21 in Aizawl (Mizoram) to deliberate on the impasse on the repatriation of refugees.

Five labourers, who were working in a road construction at Dampa Tiger Reserve on the Mizoram-Bangladesh-Tripura border under Mamit District, were abducted by armed militants. Militants have demanded INR 10 million as ransom for their release. While the state police said the abductors were NLFT -BM militants, YMA leaders of West Phaileng said the abductors were a group of Brus (Reang tribesman), who called themselves WNDLFM.

The Police Forces of the States of the North East region have decided to launch coordinated efforts to check the Maoist rebels from establishing strong roots in the region. The forces are also of the view that the peace talks with the militant groups, which have already signed cease- fire agreements, should be expedited.

A meeting of the heads of the Police Forces of the North East States, convened by the Union MHA, which concluded in Gangtok in Sikkim, discussed in detail the efforts by the Maoist rebels to establish roots in the North East region and observed that there is need for formulating strategies to check the growth of the Maoists and all the States decided to launch coordinated efforts in this regard. The meeting observed that though the militant groups have weakened in 2011 and 2012, in recent times, the level of violence has gone up, which is a matter of serious concern.

The meeting between MBDPF and Joint Secretary, Home Department of Mizoram, Lalbiakzama, scheduled on February 21 could not be held due to all India bandh (General strike), by various trade union bodies, on February 20-21.

Mizoram Police and Assam Rifles seized 31 AK-47 assault rifles, one Singapore-made LMG and 1 US-made Browning automatic rifle, 809 rounds of ammunition and 32 magazines from a farmhouse near Lengpui Airport in Mizoram.

Mizoram Police's Superintendant of Police, CID (Crime), Joseph Lalchhuana, said acting on a tip off, they seized 23 AK-47 rifles, 1 LMG and 1 Browning rifle on March 7. He added that another seizure was made on March 8 after interrogation of the three arrested persons identified as Robi Chakma, Soboz Chakma and Moni Tripura, suspected to be members of a militant outfit in Bangladesh. Lalchhuana added that 8 AK-47 assault rifles and 809 rounds of ammunition were seized in the second raid which was conducted at a place which is near the first spot of seizure. The militants intended to take the arms across the border to Bangladesh for their cadres.

Tripura Police sent a three member's team to Aizawl in the morning following a major arms haul by Mizoram Police and Assam Rifles on March 8 near Aizawl airport. Inspector General of Police (Control) Nepal Das told media the initial investigation revealed that the arms were supposed to be transported to Tripura for some underground outfit.

Mizoram Police said they have proof that the 33 sophisticated arms seized from a private farmhouse near Lengpui Airport in Aizawl District on March 7 and 8, were to be delivered to the PCJSS faction of Bangladeshi outfit Shanti Bahini. The person, who smuggled the arms into India through the porous Mizoram-Myanmar border, had reportedly gone back to Myanmar again and was hiding there, Lalchhuana said.

With abductors threatening to kill five labourers abducted from Dampa tiger reserve in Mamit District on February 19, a meeting chaired by State Home Minister R. Lalzirliana has demanded that they be released unconditionally. NLFT-BM militants are suspected to be behind the abduction.

Assam Rifles said that the biggest ever haul of weapons in Mizoram came from Myanmar. "The interrogation of the arrested people and investigation into the arms haul is under way," Director General Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh said. "Further details would be known only after the completion of the inquiry," he said. Assam Rifles seized 33 AK-47 rifles, a combat browning automatic rifle, a 5.56 automatic light machine gun, 49 loaded magazines and 809 rounds of ammunition from the outskirts of Aizawl on March 7.

Five people, including three Bangladeshis and two Mizoram residents, were arrested in connection with the recovery near Lengpui airport in Mizoram. The State borders Myanmar and Bangladesh.

According to police and intelligence officials, the weapons were being smuggled to Bangladesh.

India asked Bangladesh to work out an action plan to flush out the remaining militant leaders of the Northeast region from that country.Central Government's request was conveyed at the Director General level "Border Coordination Conference" between BSF and BGB that got under way on March 18. The meeting will end on March 23.

Alarmed by reports of fresh illegal infiltration from Bangladesh triggered by the ongoing turmoil in the neighbouring country, India has alerted the border guarding force deployed along the international border. Briefing the media, DG, BSF, Subhash Joshi and DG of BGB, Major General Aziz Ahmed said that forces were on alert, denying reports of rise in infiltration along the highly porous international border. DG BSF Subhash Joshi said about 27 percent of India's border with Bangladesh could not be fenced due to riverine terrain and other difficult geographical features. He said fencing work was sanctioned for 3,436 km of the 4,096-km border with Bangladesh and 2,525 km had been fenced. He said work was in progress for fencing on 365 km and the pending work was expected to be completed in a year or two.

NESO asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to expedite the ongoing peace process with various rebel groups in India’s northeastern states. “The Indian government must demonstrate its sincerity and commitment to all the ongoing political dialogues with different armed groups operating in the Northeastern states,” NESO Chairman Samuel B Jyrwa said. “A time-frame mechanism with a focus for an acceptable, honourable and solution must be worked out (with the rebels) and there should be no procrastination towards this the initiative,” Jyrwa said.

On the “unabated influx of illegal migrants from neighbouring countries” that has brought a serious demographic change in the North East, NESO urged the prime minister to extend Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873 in the entire North Eastern states. The student body also asked the Government to take immediate initiatives to prepare a register of citizens by updating the National register of citizens, 1951, which is the official the document on citizenship.

Mizoram Home minister R Lalzirliana, said the State Government wants to secure the release of five people abducted on February 19 last without paying ransom as demanded by the abductors. Stating this during question hour in the assembly, Lalzirliana said the government would not pay the ransom demanded by the Bru militants who abducted the five people from a poaching camp inside the Mizoram-Bangladesh-Tripura border Dampa Tiger Reserve.

The ongoing peace negotiations between the Mizoram Government and the HPC-D could not be resumed early due to abduction of five Mizos by the Bru militants on February 19, the State assembly was informed. Replying to a query, State home minister R Lalzirliana said the talks were initiated and the home department took up the parleys. “The ground rules for negotiations were placed before the two parties and deliberated in the last talks,” Lalzirliana said, adding that the SoO was signed. The steps were taken to ensure early resumption of the talks.

Mizoram Additional CID-SB H L Thangzuala stated that five road construction workers, who were abducted on February 19 by a gang of miscreants from Mamit District along the Bangladesh border, were released and handed over to Mizo leaders in Bangladesh. "We expect them to arrive at the border (Bangladesh) by midnight. We'll receive them there and provide them with necessary medical attention if required," Thangzuala said. He said the abductors were not militants, but a group of criminals belonging to the Bru community. Some of the gang members were involved in a robbery at the BDO's office at Zawlnuam last year, Thangzuala further said. The gang had a nexus with a NLFT ‘area commander’ helped them extort money by resorting to abducting of innocent people, he said, adding that the criminals apparently did not obtain permission from the NLFT high command to carry out the abduction on this occasion, sources said.

State Chief Minister Lalthanhawla, while announcing the release of the five hostages, said no ransom was paid to the criminals to secure the release of the captives.

With the improvement of relations between India and Bangladesh, the ties between the border guarding forces of both the countries have also improved considerably and coordinated patrolling by the BSF and BGB has started, which is a major positive in border management. BSF sources elaborated that the personnel of the BSF and BGB jointly identified the vulnerable stretches along the Indo-Bangla border based on infiltration, movement of criminals etc and coordinated patrolling is carried out in those areas.

Mizoram Government passed a resolution which will pave the way for setting up of a Territorial Army (Home and Hearth) to strengthen security within the State.

Participating in the discussion and moving the resolution, R Lalzirliana said that Mizoram has 710 long porous border with the neighbouring countries - Myanmar and Bangladesh - which is being protected by the Assam Rifles and the BSF. "The State has 8 Police Battalions which cannot meet all the requirements including setting up of Police Outposts in the border area," he said.

There was no presence of either rebel groups or any training camps run by them in Mizoram, State Home Minister R Lalzirliana said. In a written reply to a query from K Liantlinga of the ZNP in the State Assembly in Aizawl, the minister said the Government did not have any knowledge of the presence of rebel groups and there were no training camps being organised by them.

Replying to another question, the minister said 237 arms and 6,345 rounds of ammunition were seized by the State Police during the present Congress government since 2009. Lalzirliana said the majority of the seized arms were made locally and were destroyed in accordance with orders of the courts. While some arms, especially small arms, were given to individuals through court orders, the rest were kept in Police armouries.

DG of BSF, Subhash Joshi, along with other senior BSF officers concluded a two-day (April 3-4) visit of Karimganj and Mizoram border. The purpose of the visit was to review the security scenario and border management on the Indo-Bangladesh border in both the sectors. The DG revealed that 90 per cent of fencing was complete and the remaining portion would also be completed soon.

Objecting to the deployment of armed forces and other issues in Mizoram, the ZORO - an organization fighting for the unification of all Mizos - submitted a memorandum to the President stating that several decisions taken by the Centre and State Government, without consulting the Mizo people, be revoked. ZORO's vice-president Lalmuanpuia Punte said the organization took up a number of issues with President Pranab Mukherjee and also sent copies to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union home minister P Chidambaram, defence minister A K Antony and chief minister Lal Thanhawla. The organization urged the Centre to stop the deployment and dismantle military installation already established in the State. The ZORO also protested the ongoing border fencing along the 318-kilometre-long Indo-Bangladesh border in the Mizoram sector saying that a large chunk of Mizoram territory was outside the fencing.

The ZORO also alleged that the agreements signed between the oil exploration companies and the State Government on hydrocarbon exploration in the State were against the interests of the 'sons of the soil'. The ZORO also opposed construction of dams for power generation through hydro-electric projects in the State which would displace the indigenous people.

AR has formed specially trained commando teams comprising some select personnel from its ranks for carrying out operations against insurgents in Assam, Mizoram and Tripura. The training of these commando teams called "Fast and Intense Strike Teams (FISTs)" was carried out at 21 Sector Assam Rifles CIBS Teliamura in Tripura. The report further notes that 16 such teams will now be operating in Tripura under the 21 Sector AR.

The Joint Monitoring Group to monitor the implementation of the SoO signed between the Mizoram Government and the HPC-D would hold a meeting on April 19, officials said. The meeting would deliberate on the date and place for resumption of talks between the Mizoram government and the Hmar outfit and also discuss the observance of the bilateral SoO signed between the two parties on January 31 in Aizawl. The Mizoram Government and the HPC-D had earlier signed SoO for six months on November 11, 2010 but the proposed resumption of talks could not take off due to differences between the two sides which resulted in a massive crackdown on the Hmar outfit.

Top leaders of the outfit, H Zosangbera, Lalropuia and Lalbiaknunga were arrested by the police in 2012. All the arrested HPC-D leaders were released on bail and the talks were initiated again during the first part of 2013. The HPC-D has been demanding a separate ADC in the north eastern part of the state adjoining Manipur under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.

A report submitted by the parliamentary standing committee on Home Affairs in the Rajya Sabha (Upper House) states that Northeastern region witnessed an overall increase in violence with Assam and Manipur accounted for the bulk of incidents. The report also finds the level of violence in Meghalaya and Nagaland higher than the previous year while Tripura, Mizoram and Sikkim remained large peaceful. The report shows that the incidence of violence has risen from 627 in 2011 to 1,025 in 2012 which was 773 in 2010 and 1,297 incidents in 2009.The report further states that 3,562 militants were either arrested or killed or surrendered in the region.

The parliamentary panel has contended that socio-economic development may be the key solution to the ills of the region.

The MHA has set a 2014 deadline to complete fencing along the India-Bangladesh border. This was revealed in a report tabled by a parliamentary panel attached to MHA during the current session of Parliament. The report said Union home secretary R.K. Singh had given the panel an assurance in this regard in the last week of March 2013. The report said the home secretary had admitted that illegal influx, trans-border smuggling and movement of insurgents were major security threats to the country that needed to be curbed by plugging gaps in the border fence. He said these gaps had been classified and those that could be fenced but did not have Government sanction were being put up for sanction, adding that the Bangladesh Government's permission would have to be taken for fencing gaps less 150 yards from the Zero Line. The Union Home Secretary said there were, however, places where fencing was not feasible. He said intruder detection technology would have to be used in these places to plug gaps and curb infiltration. He said though floodlights were in place; availability of power was an issue. "We have requested the ministry of power to give us direct allocation from the central pool.

The core committee for Bru repatriation has tentatively set the last week of May to shift the Mizoram Brus to their original homes from a camp in Tripura. The committee chairman, Lalrinmawia Ralte, asked both the Governments of Tripura and Mizoram to co-ordinate their efforts to solve the issue. Representatives of the two Governments will meet next week.

Mizoram Police seized three Chinese-made grenades and ammunition from a farm house near Aizawl, Police said. The announcement was made late as police expected that more contraband was concealed in the farmhouse belonging to Rohmingliana, who was arrested.

Additional Superintendent of Police of Mamit District, Sang Zoala, visited the refugee camps on May 4, held discussions with MDBPF president Saibuanga on beginning the process of repatriation from the last week of this month.

A Home Ministry official said that the Mizoram government has agreed to resume the rehabilitation of over 40,000 Bru tribals who had sought refuge in Tripura for about 16 years. "Mizoram government's core committee on refugee repatriation headed by Parliamentary Secretary for Home Lalrinmawia Ralte last week held a meeting and decided to resume return of refugees this month-end," a Mizoram home department official told . The official said: "The core committee has asked the District administration of the Mizoram's Mamit district to finalise the schedule of the return after discussion with counterparts in Tripura." The official said the MHA has asked the Mizoram to re-start the stalled rehabilitation of refugees, in coordination with Tripura.

Majority of Bru refugees in North Tripura District are still reluctant to return to Mizoram even as Mizoram and Tripura Governments, as instructed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, would soon resume the repatriation process. President of MBDPF, A Sawibung said no one in the relief camps, including the MBDPF leaders, were informed about the proposal for fresh repatriation.

Mizoram Government has resorted to what it termed as "self-repatriation" approach to take back the Bru refugees languishing in North Tripura for 16 years. A meeting of District level core committee on Bru repatriation and settlement at Mamit on May 7 chaired by Deputy Commissioner, V Lalremthanga discussed the 'self-repatriation' exercise scheduled to begin from the last week of May. The first phase of the "self-repatriation" is meant for genuine Mizoram citizens in Asapara and Naisingpara who are "willing" to return.

Official sources said the MHA has asked the Mizoram to re-start the stalled rehabilitation of refugees, in coordination with Tripura. According to an official report of the MHA, the Central Government had sanctioned INR 178.6 million to the Mizoram Government during the past two years for the rehabilitation of refugees in their original areas in Mamit District.

The MZP, the apex Mizo student body, has advised the Mizoram Government not to undertake the repatriation of Bru refugees, proposed to begin by the end of May, unless the refugees promise in writing that they are willing to return to Mizoram. The MZP leaders, while addressing a press conference in Aizawl, said that the Brus migrated from Mizoram to Tripura and settled in the North Tripura District of their own will and refused to return despite the concerted efforts of the Centre and the Mizoram Government.