The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre estimates conservatively that at least 650,000 people in India are currently considered internally displaced persons (IDPs), as a result of armed conflict, ethnic or communal violence or human-rights violations. One situation in the Northeast, which has been particularly poorly reported upon, provides a useful demonstration of the challenges in returning India's IDPs to their homes. In May 2010, about 1115 displaced Reang indigenous people (also known as the Bru) returned home to Mizoram from camps in Tripura; on 3 November, an additional 53 families went home. These first two groups of returnees, it is hoped will be followed by the remaining of the 37,000 Reang, displaced in 1997 following attacks by the ethnic-majority Mizo in Mizoram.
The Reang, also known as the Bru, are a designated Scheduled Tribe spread through Tripura, Mizoram and Bangladesh. Because of their low socio-economic status, in Tripura they have official classification as a 'Primitive Tribal Group', which entitles them to special development and protection measures. In September 1997, a meeting was held by Bru political representatives, where the demand was put forward for Autonomous District Council (ADC) status, which would confer significant administrative, judicial and legislative powers to the community. The state's major parties (all Mizo-dominated) publicly opposed the demand. Mizo civil society, including the Young Mizo Association (YMA) and the Mizo Zirlai Pawl (Mizo Students Union, or MZP), began to aggressively demand that the Bru withdraw their request for ADC status. When the Bru groups refused, the MZP retaliated with thinly veiled threats to leave.
Relations deteriorated quickly. Radical elements of the Bru formed an underground organisation, the Bru National Liberation Front (BNLF). Events came to a head in October 1997, when a Mizo forest guard in Mamit was murdered, with the BNLF held responsible. The death resulted in what appears to have been well-orchestrated retaliatory violence against Bru communities across Mizoram. While the extent of the violence remains undocumented, it was of a sufficient scale that an estimated 45,000 Bru from across Mizoram left their lands and belongings, and fled, primarily to Tripura and Assam. Eventually, more than 30,000 Bru were given refuge in six relief camps established by the Tripura government. Subsequent attempts to resolve the issue foundered, with officials in the Mizoram capital of Aizawl insisting that most Bru in the Tripura camps were not from Mizoram.
In April 2005, an agreement was signed between the BNLF and the Mizoram government, with the latter acknowledging its obligation to take back and resettle the Bru who had fled, while simultaneously maintaining a right to question the residence status of the IDPs. The BNLF had already dropped the demand for an ADC, and agreed to disband. An estimated 1000 BNLF cadres laid down their arms, and the authorities provided rehabilitation assistance for the fighters and their families in Mizoram. However, this agreement covered only insurgents, was signed without consultation with the Bru in the camps, and offered no guarantee that ethnic violence would not be repeated. Such fears were underlined when the Mizoram government later appointed three Mizo groups – including, astoundingly, the YMA and MZP – to verify the residence credentials of the former Bru rebels.