Memo Submitted to the DC Kolasib District, Mizoram by HSA

M E M O R A N D U M

July 3, 2012

Shri Vanhela Pachuau, Chief Secretary, Government of Mizoram along with officials from various departments convened a meeting on 20th October 2011 at 11:30 a.m. and derived a segregationist resolution under Memo No. D. 32020/24/2010-HMS dt. 21.11.2011, which was directed to the Hmar tribe, one of the Mizo tribes of Mizoram. According to the minutes of the meeting,  R. Lalremsanga, Under Secretary to the Government of Mizoram, Home Department was directed by the committee to take necessary actions against the Hmar tribe as follows:

1. Measures be taken not to allot/issue House Pass/Site to the Hmar Refugees.


2. Measures to segregate them from the local population and not to issue job card under MGNREGS.


3. Measures be taken not to enroll the Hmar refugees in the ensuing Special Revision of Electoral Roll, 2012 in Mizoram.

The order, by ostracizing the Hmar tribe, spelt out measures to deny the community of their Constitutional and citizenship rights. It stands against the rightful interests of a community whose rights and entitlement cannot be suppressed by a bias and unjust order. The insensitive order is detrimental to the unity and integration of the Mizos; it stands opposed to the collective interests of the same and negates the Hmar tribe of their Fundamental Rights. The assented order is parallel to the Nuremberg Laws that was dictated by Adolf Hitler under the Nazis.

The Hmar peoples cannot be “Refugee” in Mizoram; we shall never be. We mould and built Mizoram with our blood and sacrifices. The sacrifices of our forefathers should not be negated by few narrow minded policy makers to serve their selfish end. Our forefathers have founded and named many of the villages and towns of Mizoram after various Hmar clans much before the colonial and imperial invasion that survive till today. The Hmars are a major tribe in Mizoram. Despite that, the attempt, on the part of the government and its institutions, to “segregate”, seclude and suppressed the Hmar peoples' and their rights shall not be received in silence. We shall not tolerate the insulting order that has already dehumanise us. We stand with our rights and entitlement to secure the future of the Hmar peoples' with respect and dignity; we shall not be alienated from them.

The virtue-less and ill founded political order is anti-people and undemocratic. The Hmar peoples' shall never accept the attrition and persecution that is directed to us; it is unconstitutional and despotic. The Hmar peoples' shall not be fragmented by such communal and abominable order. The abstruse order of the Home Department, Government of Mizoram amounts to a pogrom and genocide of Hmar peoples' rights. The Government of Mizoram is doggedly institutionalising injustice against the Hmar peoples' with the uncalled-for order. We shall never accept the indiscriminate imposition upon our people.

With reference to “Hmar Refugee”, about 39 (thirty nine) families who were displaced from Assam's North Cachar Hills to Mizoram after the Hmar-Dimasa conflict, the Home Department of Mizoram in its statement (24/10/2011) made public that all the displaced Hmar families have retreated to their respective homes. Inspite of that, the Home Department, Government of Mizoram, on 25/10/2011 issued a new stringent order and labelled the Hmar community as “Refugee” when there is none. In any situation, Hmars will never be “Refugee” in Mizoram; we cannot be. The Government of Mizoram ought to stop its “segregationist” attempt to outcast the Hmar peoples' from Mizoram. It will remain a vain attempt and instead revive a primitive tribal phenomenon rather than a consequential political one. The Government of Mizoram must end its segregationist commitment.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. Therefore, the attempt to alienate our justice, rights and  entitlement should not be decapitate by a coterie of persecutors; exercising cynical ethics to expel a progressive but marginalized community and deprived us of our Constitutional and citizenship rights.

1. In the interest of securing just peace, order and justice for all time to come, it is our sincere demand that:


2. The Home Department, Government of Mizoram immediately abrogate and withdraw its inhumane order and secure the rights and entitlement of the Hmar peoples' of Mizoram according to the Constitution of India.


3. The Government of Mizoram stop targeting the Hmar peoples' as outsiders or “Refugees”.


4. The Government of Mizoram stop segregating the Hmar peoples'.


5. The Hmar peoples' of Mizoram be granted the rights to house pass/site, job card under MGNREGS and register  in the electoral roll/census.

Copy to:

1. His Excellency, The Governor of Mizoram.


2. Hon'ble Chief Minister, Government of Mizoram.


3. The Chief Secretary, Government of Mizoram.


4. Secretary, Home Department, Government of Mizoram.


5. Joint Secretary, North East Incharge, Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi.


6. Hon'ble Union Home Minister, Government of India.


7. Chairman/Secretary, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, New Delhi.


8. Chairman, National Human Rights Commission, New Delhi.

SIGNATORIES:

1. Lalthlamuana Hmar, President, HSA Gen. Hqrs,


2. J.Daizova, Secretary, HSA Sinlung Hills Joint Hqrs.


3. Lalchhanchhuaha, President, HSA Kolasib Joint Hqrs.


4. Dr. L.Th Buongpui, Chairman, Rally Org. Committee.


5. Zadinlien Zate, President, HSA, Saiphai Branch


6. Lalruotsang, President HSA Rengtekawn Unit


7. Lalramfel, President HSA Kawngthar Unit, Vairengte


8. Darthanzau, Secretary HSA Chhimveng Unit, Vairengte


9. Lalrempuia, President Joint HSA Vairengte