THE ZO PEOPLE OF BANGLADESH, BURMA AND INDIA: AN INTRODUCTION[ XIII

byThang Za Dal

Grindelallee 14120146 HamburgGermany

- Updated from XII to XIII on November 21, 2011.

Last modified on January 12, 2012.

- Update XI (445 pages) was replaced with Update XII (510 pages) on June 30, 2011.i

THIS PAPER IS DEDICATED TO- Chief Khup Lian

, my paternal grandfather, who led someof the fiercest battles against British troops under the directpersonal command of

Field Marshal Sir George White

during the

First Chin Expedition 1888-89

; the

Chin-LushaiExpedition 1889-90

, and once again during the

Siyin-Nwengal[Siyin-Gungal] Rebellion 1892-93

; hepersonally captured a semi-automatic rifle in a hand-to-handcombat during the

First Chin Expedition

Capt. K.A. Khup Za Thang

: Compiler of the

Genealogy of the Zo(Chin) Race of Burma

(1st and 2nd*Editions)-

My Parents, my elder Sister, Brother and four younger Sisters- Sao Htwe,

my wife-

Pu Hau Za Cin

Pu Thang Za Pau

(comrades-in-arms who were killed in action)

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ “...The route to Chittagong was discussed, and enquiry was made whether the Chins would object to the advance of a column of Britishtroops through their country; also whether, in the event of their having no objection to such an advance, they could supply transportcoolies and guides...“(9.5.1

Negotiations With the Siyins

, p. 20) ______________________________________________________ “... An expedtion against the Chins on a modified scale was now sanctioned. It was determined to deal first only with the Siyins andto inflict on them such a crushing blow as not only to cripple them for the future, but also to terrify the Tashons into giving up therebel Shwe Gyo Byu, his followers, and the Shan captives...This brings the history of the Chin Hills up to the end of the season 1888-89.We had 67 casualties during the expedition and the state of affairs was that all the Siyin and 18 of the Kanhow villages had beendestroyed, and our troops now occupied the tract...“(9.6.3

Preparations for Operations against the Siyins

, p. 23)

_______________________________________________________

“Sir George White, in a telegram to the Chief Commissioner of Burma, described the action on 27th January 1889 against the Chins asfollows:-

‘...Enemy in considerable numbers, using many rifles and ammunition. They fired at least 1,000

rounds, standing resolutely until actually charged, even trying to outflank us. Their loss probably about eight or ten, but they were carried down the khuds at once.

Most difficult enemy to see or hit I ever fought...

‘

“

(9.6.6

Encounter with the Siyins

, p. 24)

______________________________________________________Note: Only my brother, sisters and wife are still alive.* The 2nd Edition contains 580(A4)pages.

Abstract

Those who are known to the outside world in the following terms today - CHIN, CHIN-KUKI-MIZO-ZOMI or KUKI-CHIN-MIZO - are in fact belonging to a single ethnic group of Mongoloid Stock. The term, CHIN, was orignally a Burmese word andKUKI a Bengali. However, they had known themselves - and called themselves as well - from ancient times only in any of thefollowing terms: ASHO, CHO, LAI, MIZO or ZOMI. There were originally around 100 tribes and sub-tribes, which have now been reduced to some 70 tribes and sub-tribes since several of them have adopted the common nomenclature of MIZO.Although all of them cannot yet agree upon a common nomenclature that encompasses them all, ZO or ZOFATE(descendantsof ZO) have become more and more popular among several sectors of the society. Hence this term - ZO - is interchangablyused with CHIN/ZO throughout this paper of mine(for CHIN still being the official usage inside Burma and universal).And they do not have a common language yet as well until today, but the “Mizo language“ which is also known as the

Duhlian

Lusei dialect

is spoken and understood by at least about 1 million Zos. Other major Zo dialects that are spoken by more than 100 000 people are Haka(Lai), M‘ro, Thado-Kuki, and Tedim(

Fraser,

15). The Zo dialects belong to theSino-Tibetan linguistic groups.

Their ancient country was divided into three parts, namely Bangladesh(formerly East Pakistan), Burma and India -first by the British and later by Bangladesh and India. They have got now two internationally recognized federal states- Chin State in Burma and Mizoram State in India, with a combined population of 1.5 million within these states.Mizoram State has an area of circa 21 000 sq. km and Chin State some 37 000 sq. km. That means Chin State aloneis nearly as large as Switzerland.

They were originally adherents of their traditional religion, i.e. Animism. And their cultural heritages are the fruits of thisancient religious belief. Nowadays, the great majority of them are Christian of several denominations. Approximately 10 - 15 percent of the Zo population inside Burma profess Buddhism and their traditional religion. As they were warrior tribes the British needed decades to suppress and bring them under their absolute control with anumber of punitive and suppressive expeditions under the command of several outstanding generals; among them four whowould later become field marshals. The first expedition under the name of Arakan Frontier Expedition took place in 1842,and then several followed between 1888 and 1894. And then two more suppressive expeditions were staged once again between 1917 and 1919.The Mizos attained statehood only after having fought a 20-year old war(1966-86) against the Central Indian Govern-ment. The Chins inside today‘s Burma had agreed to voluntarily form up a federated union on equal terms and equal statuswith Burmans, Kachins, Kayas(Karennis), and Shans by signing a well-known treaty called “The Panglong Agreement“ onFebruary 12, 1947, at Panglong in Southern Shan State. Without this treaty the Union of Burma would have never comeinto existence at all. Thousands of Chin soldiers in Burma have had played some of the most crucial roles in saving and maintaining the Unionof Burma at its most critical moments during the course of its 63-year old civil war since her independence from Britain in1948. However, the successive Burmese governments have been completely neglecting the welfare of the Zo people from thevery beginning of Burma‘s independence, and human rights violations committed against them by the Governmentitself are rampant everywhere, that tens of thousands of them have left and still are leaving the country and migrating toseveral countries around the world. ____________________________________________________________________________________________

An Explanation:

Many readers of this paper may surely be wondering why I am using blue and red colours profusely init - and it could be very irritating for them. The simple reason behind it is that nowadays there are very few young Zos whoare interested in their own people‘s history and it was recently found out that they thought nearly all books on Zo historyare too boring to read. So it is hoped that, by highlighting a few key information with colours in this lengthy paper, they,who also happen to be one of the “main target groups“ of this paper, may find it a bit less boring to read. And non-Zo readerswho are not familiar with the history of the Zo people may certainly find some sections of it odd or irrelavant to the wholecontext. Foornotes under 13.3 ARMED RESISTANCE MOVEMENTS AGAINST THE JAPANESE, APPENDIX Z , and the newlyadded APPENDICES EE to EE - 11 (MAP 2) are some examples._____________________________________________________________________________________________

About this Update (XIII):

A number of corrections and additions have been made from the previous one. The most importantadditions to this current Update are APPENDICES EE to EE - 11 (MAP 2),

PHOTOS E, 23 - 25.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

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