NgeisokSquare

During 19-21 May 1988 an unusual gathering took place at Champhai, a small town in the Indian state of Mizoram, some twenty kilometers from Myanmar border. It was the First World Zomi Convention and was attended by a large number of people, estimated at more than one thousand, from parts of Mizoram, Manipur and the contiguous Chin State of Myanmar. On the third day, the Convention pledged “solidarity and integration to take on a just struggle for Zo-Reunification under one administrative umbrella”. [1] Though it went unnoticed by the India press, the Convention became the forerunner of the Zo-Reunification Organisation(ZORO) with the avowed object of unifying the India’s state of Mizoram and the Chin State of Myanmar where the Zo* descendents are predominant. What was significant about the Convention is that the Zo people on both sides of the international boundary met for the first time over an issue that they had so long been airing separately. The event was coincided wi...

The Sukte Paramountcy in Northern Chin Hills The State as an institution emerged at a certain stage of historical development in various parts of the world. In the history of the evolution of human society, the stages of development began with the Band-a group formed for hunting and similar primitive activities. There were no kinship ties. The next stage was that of the tribe. Here kinship ties were more important. An important development of tribe was marked by a stage of tribal chiefdom. Finally we have a state based on class based society. In ancient period the system of a tribe living under a chief sometimes aided by a council of elders was widely prevalent. The chief owed position either to personal abilities or descent from a senior lineage. At a later stage, chiefship became hereditary when gifts to chiefs became hereditary and return from the chiefs infrequent, and when the share of the chiefs booty increased and that of the kinsman reduced considerably, conditions were creat...

THE HAKA UPRISING “While no organised attack was made during the whole of our twenty-two days inside the Police Lines* we knew perfectly well that they could wipe us off the face of the earth at any moment if they had the courage to boldly close in on us and make the attempt”, [1] wrote Laura Hardin Carson in her first hand account of Chin uprising in 1917. It reveals the nature and magnitude of an indigenous response to colonial administration. This article is an attempt to mainly discuss the causes and extent of the Haka uprising. It tries to delve deep into the factors behind the non-participation of the entire Chin tribes while Haka was embroiled in political turmoil. The annexation of Upper Burma in 1886 brought the British into direct contact with the Chins on that frontier. The anarchy in the Kabaw-Kale valley in the aftermath of the annexation provided a congenial soil to the Chins to carry out raids on a more regular ba...