Zomi National Congress

In India, the Zomi National Congress (ZNC) was formed at Daizang, Manipur in 1972. Under the leadership of T Gougin,[1] as President and S.K. Samte as Secretary, the oganisation seeks the re-unification of the Zomi of Burma and India and also submitted a memorandum[2] to the then President of India V. V. Giri. It was at the initiative of the party that the First World Zomi Convention was held at Champhai, Mizoram from May 19 -21, 1988.

The Zomi National Congress in Burma was registered as a political party in 1988. It was permitted to function as a political organization until 1992, when the Burma military government abolished the party, and banned it from all political activities. While heavily oppressed as an un-sanctioned party, ZNC still exists within Burma, and is part of the global Zomi people movement.

Chin Sian Thang, 67, is chairman of the Zomi National Congress. Elected as a Member of Parliament during Burma's ill-fated 1990 elections, he has worked diligently for many years in defiance of the country’s ruling junta. During the 1960s, Chin Sian Thang served as a leader of the Chin Ethnic Student Union while a student at Rangoon University. He has been imprisoned on at least six occasions by successive military regimes for his political activities between 1972 and 1999. In each instance, he served two years, during which he was subjected to brutal interrogations that led to permanent health problems.

He also serves as a member of the Committee Representing People’s Parliament, a group supported by 251 candidates elected in 1990. Considered a moderate ethnic leader, Chin Sian Thang heavily promotes the CRPP as a rallying point for Burmese activists and ethnic leaders.He is the most outspoken elected ethnic leader in Burma. He is the coauthor of "In Burma, a Cry for U.N. Help"[3]

Due to reservations put forward by the Burmese government, the word National was later dropped and the party was re-registered as Zomi Congress for Democracy (ZCD)with the Union Election Commission of Burma in 2012.[4]

References

  1. ↑ http://gougin.blogspot.in/
  2. ↑ Memorandum submitted to His Excellency V.V. GIRI, The President of India by the Zomi National Congress, Lamka http://www.zogam.org/documents.asp?article=documents_244
  3. ↑ Washington Post, Thursday, October 26, 2006, p. A25
  4. ↑ ZNC to ZCD http://www.chinlandguardian.com/index.php/news/item/1364-znc-to-register-as-zomi-congress-for-democracy

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