Mizos are deeply aggrieved by Manipur violence: Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga 

Mizoram CM Zoramthanga & Manipur CM Biren Singh both address ethnic violence in their I-Day speeches. Mizoram spent ₹36 lakh to airlift & provide relief to refugees from Manipur. Mizoram govt allocated ₹5 crore for relief & rehabilitation. Biren urges communities to forgive & forget, & resume journey of development.

GUWAHATI/IMPHAL

References to the ethnic violence in adjoining Manipur peppered Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga’s Independence Day speech, his last for the current term of the Mizo National Front (MNF) government that he heads. 

Elections to the 40-member Mizoram Assembly are due by December. 

“The entire country has been deeply pained by the violent ethnic conflict that erupted in our neighbouring State of Manipur on May 4. The series of unfortunate and deplorable incidents which have unfolded since then have deeply aggrieved the entire Mizo society,” he said in the State’s capital Aizawl on, August 15. 

The Mizos are ethnically related to the Kuki-Zomi people who have been affected the most by the ethnic violence in Manipur. 

Mr. Zoramthanga said that the MNF government has kept a close watch on Manipur since the very start of the political and ethnic turmoil there, and has taken a number of steps for the safety and security of Mizos who were stuck in Imphal, particularly students. 

The State government also took up relief and rehabilitation measures immediately for the internally displaced from Manipur who have sought shelter in Mizoram, he said, adding that the State government spent more than ₹36 lakh to airlift and evacuate 264 residents of Mizoram from Imphal.