Aizawl: Mizoram deputy chief minister and senior vice president of the Mizo National Front (MNF) Tawnluia said on Friday that the party is making efforts to bring the Zo ethnic tribes under one administrative unit.
Addressing a party meeting at the MNF office in Aizawl, Tawnluia said that the re-unification of all Zo tribes and bringing them under one administrative unit was the main agenda, at the time of signing the Mizoram peace accord with the Centre in 1986.
“The MNF constitution also mentions the re-unification of all Zo ethnic people and bringing them under one administrative unit. We have been pressing the Centre on this issue till now,” he said.
The deputy chief minister said that when the MNF declared independence against India in 1986, it covered and encompassed all the areas inhabited by the Zo ethnic people.
“Although we have been separated by geographical boundaries, we share ethnic ties and are emotionally attached. The MNF has been dreaming of living under one administrative unit and we are trying to champion this from the beginning,” he said.
He said that the issues of bringing Zo tribes under one administrative unit, and the state political boundary, were widely discussed during parleys before the signing of the peace accord.
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The Mizoram peace accord was signed in 1986 after the Centre maintained that boundary could be done under article 3 of the Constitution of India, he said.
The Zo ethnic tribes live mainly in three countries- India, Bangladesh and Myanmar. They are known by different nomenclatures like the Mizos (Mizoram), Chin (Myanmar), Kuki-Chin (Bangladesh) and Kukis (Manipur). These tribes are settled in at least six northeastern states- Mizoram, Manipur, Assam, Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya.
Also read: Cursed: Why Mizoram is protesting against Forest Amendment Bill