Remembering Thangmawia

R Thangmawia was also one of the key leaders responsible for improving the ties between the Nagas and the Chin-Kuki-Mizo community. It is worth noting here that the 79 year old leader was instrumental in creating a wide platform in order to unify all the Zo peoples (Chin-Kuki-Mizo) scattered in India, Myanmar and Bangladesh. After the 1990s’ Naga-Kuki ethnic clash the sharing of platforms between the Nagas and Kukis was at its lowest ebb. Though there was no recurrence of violence after 2001, hostilities between the two communities continued until some sensible leaders from both the communities rendered their services towards rebuilding the dismantled relationship. R Thangmawia was one leader active in the venture till his last moment.Today, the tribal areas are largely peaceful compared to the far more turbulent 1990s, thanks to leaders including R Thangmawia. Also thanks to the efforts of these leaders, Naga frontal organizations have started receiving invitations from the Chin-Kuki-Mizo organizations. In fact, the sharing of platforms between the two communities aims to improve upon mechanisms that address several other sensitive issues. It is said that Thangmawia had visited various parts of Nagaland. It is also said that the Zo Reunification Organisation ( ZoRO) leader had walked from Jiribam (Manipur) to Mokokchung in Nagaland, a distance of about 600 km, and from Mokokchung to Moreh, a town in Manipur bordering Myanmar, about 400 km, during the Mizo Movement, in 1967. He had also visited several Asian countries including China, South Korea, Thailand and Germany to promote the movement of ZoRO. It is also said that R Thangmawia was very jovial. His friends from Naga community liked him a lot. He was also a room-mate of Isak Chishi Swu, chairman of National Socialist Council of Nagalim in Shillong. Both were in the same college then. Well, every leader is bound to have bitter critics and R Thangmawia too had his share of them. As in the case of every leader the vicissitude of life did not spare the ZoRO leader. It is worth mentioning here that R Thangmawia was found dead in the morning of July 20 in his hotel room in Geneva. The ZoRO leader was in Geneva to attend the ‘Eighth Session of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples’ in Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland from July 20-24.