Aizawl/Agartala, Nov 17 (IANS) The Mizoram government has issued shoot-at-sight orders to control violent mobs in the southern part of the state after over 355 houses of Reang tribals were set ablaze following the gunning down of a Mizo youth last Friday, an official said Tuesday.
An uneasy calm prevailed in the trouble-torn southern region of the mountainous northeastern state Tuesday.

“Shoot-at-sight orders have been issued to bring the situation under control,” Mizoram Home Minister R. Lalzirliana told reporters in Aizawl.

He said 10 people have been arrested for the arson.

The ethnic violence erupted after militants shot dead an 18-year-old Mizo youth in Bungthuam village, near the Tripura border in southern Mizoram on Friday, Lalzirliana said.

“Some extremist elements have set ablaze 355 houses of Reang tribals in 11 villages under Mamit and Kolashib districts in southern Mizoram since Friday,” a Mizoram government official release said Tuesday.

It said: “A team of senior police officials and a huge additional Mizoram Armed Police (MAP) force led by Deputy Inspector General (northern range) L. Hrangnawn are still camping in the violence-hit areas and supervising the security measures.”

“Director General of Mizoram police Lalrokhuma Pachuau has been in close touch with his Tripura counterpart Pranay Sahaya to take steps for the security of the Mizo people in Jampui hills in northern Tripura against possible retaliatory action of the Reang tribals,” the statement added.

Three senior Mizoram ministers and the deputy speaker of the Mizoram assembly are scheduled to visit southern Mizoram and northern Tripura soon to speak to the affected Reang tribals, locally called Bru.

Following the arson and subsequent ethnic trouble, around 5,000 displaced Reang tribals have taken shelter in adjacent southern Assam and Jampui and Kanchanpur in northern Tripura. Most of the displaced men, women and children are still living either in the jungle or under the open sky.

A delegation of Tripura tribal leaders led by Tribal Autonomous District Council (TADC) chairman Santi Ranjan Reang visited Jampui and Kanchanpur Monday and spoke to the affected people.

“We have no instruction from the government to provide relief to the fresh migrants,” said sub-divisional magistrate of Kanchanpur sub-division Dilip Chakma.

Senior civil and police officials have been camping in the mixed populated Tripura villages adjacent to Mizoram since Saturday.

“Both Assam Rifles and Tripura State Rifles in northern Tripura are on alert to prevent any eventuality following the ethnic violence and exodus of Reang tribals from Mizoram,” north Tripura district magistrate Samarjit Bhowmik told IANS.

Over 35,000 Reang tribal refugees have been living in six north Tripura camps since 1997 after they fled Mizoram following ethnic clashes with the majority Mizos.

A tripartite meeting held in Aizawl Nov 4 between representatives of the central and Mizoram governments and tribal refugees failed to resolve the 12-year deadlock to repatriate 35,000 Reang migrants from Tripura to Mizoram.

“Both the centre and the Mizoram government rejected our major demands. We will not return to our homes unless our major demands are fulfilled,” said Elvis Chorkhy, who led the seven-member refugee delegation at the meeting.

Mizoram Bru Displaced People’s Forum (MBDPF), an orgaisation of the Reang tribal refugees, has sent fax messages to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, other central leaders and Mizoram Chief Minister Lalthanhawla urging them to stop the ethnic violence in Mizoram.

“The tribal refugees have organised protest rallies in their six camps in north Tripura to protest the mob attacks and burning down of houses belonging to Reang tribals in Mizoram,” said Chorkhy, who is the president of the MBDPF.