The Accords continues....



The Mizo insurgency was the most violent separatist movement in the

North-Eastern region of India. In fact, behind every separatist movement

one can discover discrimination of some kind – economic, social, cultural,

and so on. The Mizos suffered discrimination in their own homeland and

it turned them towards armed rebellion. It lasted for 20 long years causing

heavy loss of life and total disruption of normal life and development.

The Mizo Hills were a part of composite Assam. The domination of

tribal life by the Assamese was a reality that alienated the Mizos, who felt

that they were losing their identity. The tribes who inhabit the North-

Eastern hills are fiercely independent.

This is the story of insurgency in the North-East. The Mizos nursed a deep rancour towards the Assam Government

and the Assamese people since the 1950s, when the Mizo Hills were ravaged

by a famine. The Mizos felt that the Assam Government did little to provide

relief to the famine-affected people. They formed the Mizo National Famine

Front, which provided relief to them. The famine and the insensitive way

in which the Assam Government dealt with it paved the way for the

separatist movement in the Mizo Hills. They transformed the Mizo

National Famine Front into a fighting organization – the Mizo National

Front (MNF). The Mizo Hills were ready for insurgency.



The Mizo National Front was led by Laldenga, a former clerk in the

District Council. He took up the leadership in the early part of 1966. The

avowed aim of the MNF was to secede from India and form an independent

Mizo nation. For this purpose they took up arms and decided to fight the

Indian State. MNF cadres got military training and arms supplies from

the erstwhile East Pakistan. They launched the first organized attack on

28 February 1966 on government installations in Aizawl and other areas,

and captured many including Aizawl. It was a major setback to the security

forces. The Government of India had to use the Air Force to strafe the

hills in order to recapture the capital and other areas.

To be continued....