~ Lal Dena
Under Mizo and Mizoram state, all Kuki-Zo chate including Hmar and Chin can unite and form a united nation. - Rev. Kampu Thangzom, Founder-President, Asia Antioch Seminary, Guwahati.
Motivated primarily by the need of greener pastures for settlement combined with the spirit of adventurism, Mizo (Zo) ancestors, in course of their long sojourn originally from Sinlung, China, had passed through different countries and finally settled in different places in Southeast Asia and Indian sub-continent. Quite a good number of them stayed back in Chin Hills, Myanmar. They are collectively called Chins by the Burmans. Equally a good number of them scattered in different parts of Northeast India particularly in Assam, Manipur, and Tripura and they are called Kuki. Those who migrated in Lushai Hills are collectively known as Lushais. Still quite a few of them moved further down to the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh. They also collectively identify themselves as Chin-Kuki-Mizo. After the formation of the nation-states, namely, Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan), Myanmar (Burma) and India, Mizos in these three different countries are thus compelled to remain separately in their respective present habitats. This division was further confirmed by imposition of the so-called international boundary which has still been enforced till today.
At one point of time in the evolution of colonial administration, British colonial authority felt the need to unify the Zo people living particularly in Chin Hills and in Lushai Hills under a single administration and accidentally mooted the idea of unifying them. For this purpose they even held the Chin-Lushai Conference at Fort William, Calcutta on January 29, 1892. But it is very clear that the desire for bringing the whole tract of the country known as the Chin-Lushai hills under one administration was solely motivated by colonial strategic interest. There was no concern for the welfare of Zo people whom the colonial officials called ‘savage’, ‘uncivilized’ or ‘head-hunters”, etc. It is therefore not surprising that no ‘Zo representative’ was invited to attain the conference. Resolution 2 of the conference clearly proves that the conference was not prepared to implement the proposal, saying: “…as matters now stand, the difficulties of communication, of supply, and of transport are very serious, and it will in any cases be necessary to suspend action until after the close of the present cold season’s operation in the Chin and Lushai hills”. The cold season operation was gone but the issue was never reopened again. Instead, the Zo people were permanently divided among the said three separate countries.
Despite this division, the Mizos always strongly felt the need for unification. Therefore, the concept of Mizo reunification was always in the minds of Mizo peole even before India’s independence. As a matter of fact, the concept was in a way the outcome of new political consciousness which gradually dawned among the newly emergent Mizo elites during and after the World War II of 1945. Being exposed to new ideas of freedom, humanism and democracy, the educated Mizo elites formed the first political party called Mizo Union (MU) on 9 April 1946. The leaders of the Mizo Union held their first political conference at Lakhipur, Cachar, Assam which was attended by many Zo representatives and resolved unanimously that all Zo inhabited areas of Burma and India including Chittagong Hill Tracts, East Pakistand (now Bangladsh) be amalgamated to form a greater Zoram state within India. In the meantime, the United Mizo Freedom Organization (UMFO) was also formed on 20 July 1947 with an objective of merging the Mizo inhabited areas in Assam with their kindred tribes in Burma which they believed would ensure a better chance of their political survival.
It was the Hmars living in Ruonglevaisuo (Tipaimukh), South Manipur bordering Mizoram, who first responded to this call of Mizo reunification. The Mizo Union (Manipur Branch) under the dynamic leadership of Pu L.Tawna, boycotted the first general election of independent Manipur of 1948. Alarmed by the surging Mizo integration movement in Ruonglevaisuo, P.B.Singh, the first chief minister and younger brother of Maharaja Bodhachandra Singh, with Major Bob Khathing, hill areas minister, event went to Parbung and Senvawn, Tipaimukh, to meet the Union leaders. It is said that P.B.Singh was said to have promised the Hmars a ‘Regional Council’ if they discontinued the movement. Instead of halting the movement, the masses sung in unision:
State lalber P.B.Singh-an,
Union kawng a dal thei lo;
Authority bawm khaia chuan,
Artui khawn I phu tawk e.
Thus the Mizo Union leaders rejected the offer and the integration movement also finally ended with the arrest and imprisonment of L.Tawna and 15 other leaders of the Union at Imphal Central Jail. On the other side, the Mizo Union leaders under Pu Saprawnga, Mizoram, had accepted the offer of the Lushai Hills Autonomous District Council covering only the Mizos under the then excluded areas of Assam during British period.
However, the idea of Mizoram integration did not die. Instead, it was slowly reviving during the 1960s. The Mizo National Front (MNF) under the leadership of Laldenga declared ‘Mizoram independence’ on 1 March, 1966 covering all the Mizo inhabited areas of Northeast India (Assam, Manipur and Tripura), Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh and Chin Hills, Myanmar. In Manipur, Pu Lalkhohen Thanggeo was one of the signatories of the declaration and as a matter of fact, as many as 49 Kuki volunteers from Rungbung (Manipur Hills) sacrificed their precious lives at the altar of freedom. In this movement, Hmars in and outside Mizoram lent moral, physical and material support and also formed the Mizo Integration Council under the leadership of K.T.Lala and made its presence and demand for integration of Hmar inhabited areas with Mizoram for the second time when the Government of India and the MNF had a series of talks. Unfortunately, the Hmars and the Kuki brothers had nothing to celebrate after the Mizo Accord was signed in June, 1986.
One cannot however ignore the lasting impact of MNF movement on Mizo society as a whole. One positive outcome of the MNF movement, though it failed to achieve its main objective of ‘Mizoram independence and Mizo reunification’, is the emergence of Zo (Mizo) nationalism. Zarzosanga, a young Mizo scholar, asserts “the outbreak of violence after the declaration of ‘Mizoram independence’ did make Zo nationalism more evident and alive and outside the interest and understanding of Indian nationalism. David Buhril remarked that the bombing of Aizawl on 5 March, 1966 actually othered the Mizos from India and Indians. The blunder made by the government of India with its decision to bomb Aizawl was an affirmation and acknowledgement of Mizo (Zo) nationalism. (David Buhril; “History Remembered”, March 5, 2016 & Middot). What is very significant in this observation is the phrase ‘othered’. The process of ‘otheringness’ of Mizos from mainland India, willy nilly, is the hard reality that inspires to secure Zo nationalism which is already crossing the national boundary of Mizoram, according to Lalremruata, a progressive member of the Zo Reunification Organization (ZoRO). David Buhril further comments, “For the Mizos, Aizawl is the heart of their identity and belonging. During the fight for Indian independence (from British rule) Mizos had been left on the periphery. The bombing of Aizawl to secure the Indian nation state further paralysed the Mizos from sharing in the notion of Indian nationalism. The excessive action simply helped to cement the feeling of otherness within the Mizos vis-a-vis the rest of India”. As a matter of fact, it was the Zo Reunification Organization (ZoRO) which has been carrying on the flame of Zo nationalism and this is an on-going process among the Mizos today. It revived the flagging aspirations of the Zo nationalists who had been sweating and braving countless inclement weathers to integrate with their brethren living on the other side of the existing international boundary of Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Accordingly, the Zo Reunification Organization (ZoRO) formally made the following declaration at Chawngchhim, Champhai, Mizoram on May 19, 1988: “We, the people of Zo ethnic group, inhabitants of the highlands in the Chin Hills and Arakans of Burma, the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh, Mizoram and Manipur states and adjoining hill areas of India, are descendants of one ancestor. Our language, our culture and tradition, and no less our social and customary practices are clear evidences of the ethnological facts. Further, our historical records and footprints both written and unwritten, in the sands of time testify, to the truth of our common ancestry”. The convention further firmly adopted the principle of non-violence for attaining the Zo reunification.
This is a broad-based on-going movement encompassing the whole Zo race. Meanwhile, fed up with small community-based politics, the Gangte tribe of Manipur even went to the extent of merging itself as Mizo in preference to Kuki or Chin in February, 1999. To quote John H.Pulamte, “This suggests that the Mizoization process with a strong back up by the state of Mizoram and its people is gaining a greater momentum than any other process of unification and integration of these closely related but widely un-knotted tribes of Churachandpur district of Manipur”. (John H.Pulamte, SJSC District Student Union, p.77).
The ZoRo leaders have taken the issue of Zo reunification even at the international forum many a time. Every year the Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), a student wing of Mizoram, used to organize Zofest at different places in India where Zo kindred tribes from different parts of India used to participate and present their colourful cultural dances. This Zofest brings about emotional integration among them and this emotional integration so far achieved through Zofest is higly commendable. This is a positive step towards achieving sense of oneness within the community.
At this critical moment when the Kuki-Zo people in Manipur have been placed in a very critical situation, the issue of Greater Mizoram has ever become more relevant than before. We are well aware that ours is going to be a long-drawn struggle. It will take time. Let us be patient. What we need most is unity and a support from our brethren in Mizoram. For blood is thicker than water. Destiny and historical forces have forced us to face this challenge. It is not a question of choice. It is a do or die situation.
