Mizo Groups Stage Sit-In, Petition PM to Rethink Indo–Myanmar Border Fencing

Overview

• Mizo Zirlai Pawl and the Zo Reunification Organisation held a sit-in outside Aizawl’s Vanapa Hall on January 17 opposing the proposed border fencing.
• The two groups submitted a joint memorandum via Governor Vijay Kumar Singh on January 16 urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the plan.
• The memorandum cites risks to social bonds, cultural cohesion and livelihoods built on small-scale trade, agriculture and customary cross-border movement.
• ZORO’s president cautioned that dividing ethnic Mizos across the boundary could erode collective identity, while MZP vowed to continue peaceful opposition.
• Protesters referenced an earlier unanimous Mizoram Assembly resolution against fencing, as officials note about 10 km are already fenced in Manipur and more than 30,000 Chin refugees remain in the state.