NEW DELHI: Insurgency is being revived by Mizo National Army in Mizoram This is haunting Indian authorities. According to reports 2000 former Mizo insurgents held a meeting in the dense forest area of Chittagong Hill Tracts on Aug.22 to disown the Mizoram accord and take up arms again.

Several speakers at the meeting suggested that MNA come to terms with National Socialist Council of Nagaland United Liberation Front of Assam Peoples Liberation Army and Manipur and the Tripura Tribal Liberation Front. They could bank upon Burma and Bangladesh for support it was pointed out.

The speakers said they had been misled by Delhi. Any more support to the accord amounted to cheating the Mizos they said. They had been assured of rehabilitation if the arms were given up. Not much in that direction had been done. The people had no accommodation or income for survival.

Alarmed at the reports the Center has asked the Mizo administration to send details of the deliberations of the meeting. Moves are said to be afoot to call senior Mizo leaders such as Zoraz Thanga and Brigadier Tawa Luia for urgent talks. After the preliminary talks the Prime Minister will be apprised of the situation The government is said to be keen on reviving the accord and on taking measures to step up development activities and to provide employment to the Mizo youths.

The Mizo insurgency came to an end in 1986. It continued for 20 years when India deployed three divisions of its army and about 1 lakh paramilitary forces to man 710-km long border with Burma and Bangladesh Indian authorities never revealed the exact number of casualties on both sides during the two decades but these were sizeable in thousands it is stated.

Meanwhile the Assam Chief Minister Haiteswar Saikia hinted at the possibility of armed actions being revived against the ULFA insurgents following the execution of an Oil India engineer by the rebels when the Indian authorities failed to release the tribal detenus held in captivity by India for years without trial.

Article extracted from this publication >> September 13, 1991