Speak Mizo only, YMA serves diktat to Myanmar refugees, residents

Hindustan Times

09-07-2025

Aizawl, In a surprising move, a branch of Young Mizo Association , Mizoram's largest and influential civil society organisation, on Wednesday served a diktat to residents and around 7,000 refugees in an area in Champhai district to speak only in Mizo language, the lungua franca of the state. Speak Mizo only, YMA serves diktat to Myanmar refugees, residents
Though thousands of people have entered Mizoram from neighbouring Myanmar, especially its Chin state, since 2021, this is the first time such a diktat was heard for them from any branch of the YMA.
Those who took refuge in Mizoram from Myanmar have ethnic links with the Mizos who have several tribes, and each of them has a dialect.
The Zokhawthar branch of YMA instructed local residents and Myanmar refugees through a public announcement system that they should speak only the Mizo language in public places as well as in the village by shunning their ethnic or clan dialects.
Zokhawthar in east Mizoram's Champhai district is situated on the India-Myanmar border and is separated by the Tiau river from Khawmawi village in Myanmar's Chin state.
The village has seen an influx of a large number of refugees from Myanmar in the past few days following armed conflict between Chin armed groups.
Speaking to PTI, Zokhawthar branch YMA vice-president Vanlalngurchhuana said that the announcement aimed at "unifying and integrating the Mizo tribes irrespective of their geographical origin".
He claimed that misunderstandings often crept up between the Mizo tribes when each clan or sub-clan speak their own dialect.
This also makes them alienated from the Mizo mainstream, which disturbs the process of Mizo integration, Vanlalngurchhuana asserted.
"We appeal to the refugees and local residents to strictly stick to speaking the Mizo lingua franca and stop speaking their own dialects. It does not mean trampling their rights. Our main motive is Mizo integration so that the refugees and local residents co-exist peacefully," Vanlalngurchhuana told PTI.
An advocate, who refused to be named, said the diktat contravenes Articles 14 and 29 of the Indian Constitution.
Article 14 guarantees the right to equality before the law, while Article 29 protects the interest of minorities and guarantees the right of any group with a unique language, script or culture to protect and preserve it.
Officials said that about 4,000 refugees from Myanmar's Chin state fled to Mizoram and took shelter in Zokhawthar in the past six days.
But, Zokhawthar already had more than 3,000 refugees who fled from the neighbouring country after a military coup in 2021, they said.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.