17-654: Ngur is a Zomi village in the Champhai district of Mizoram , India . It is located in the Champhai R.D. Block . According to the 2011 census of India , Ngur has 335 households. The effective literacy rate (i.e. the literacy rate of population excluding children aged 6 and below) is 97.29%. Zomi people Zomi is a collective identity adopted some of the Kuki-Chin language -speaking people in India and Myanmar. The term means " Zo people". The groups adopting
34-508: A Kuki identity, agreed to come under the banner of Zomi Re-unification Organisation in 1995. The seven tribes were Hmar , Zou , Vaiphei , Gangte , Simte , Sukte ( Tedim Chins ) and Paite , with the Paites leading the collection. Its formation day is said to be observed on 20 February every year as Zomi Nam Ni . By 1997, the organisation also formed an underground military wing called Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA) ostensibly to defend
51-580: A "Mizo" ("Zo people") identity in 1946. In 1953, the Baptist Associations of Tedim , Falam and Hakha in Myanmar's Chin State adopted Zomi ("Zo people") as their "national" name (subsuming the various tribal identities). In India's Manipur state, T. Gougin formed a "United Zomi Organisation" in 1961 and "Zomi National Congress" in 1972. The final step in these Zomi nationalist movements
68-740: A year, during which 352 people died, thousands of homes were destroyed and over 13,000 people were displaced. The Government of India sent in the Indian Army to attempt to stop the violence, but peace was restored in September–October 1998 only with the initiative of the Church. In 1948, 21 tribes of Manipur that shared the "Kuki" label per the British nomenclature formed a joint organisation called Kuki Company based at Kuki Inn in Imphal. After
85-832: The Burmese diaspora in the United States. Between 7000 and 9000 Zomi live in Tulsa, Oklahoma , which is referred to as " Zomi Town " within the Burmese diaspora. The concentration of Zomi in Tulsa is related to the fact that the Zomi are a largely Christian ethnic group and faced persecution in Myanmar under the military dictatorship. The resettlement of Zomi refugees to Tulsa was in part catalyzed by Dr. Chin Do Kham, who moved to Tulsa in
102-758: The Zomi label. These six tribes, including Zou , Vaiphei , Gangte , Simte , Paite and a collection of smaller tribes that simply called themselves "Zomi", formed the Zomi Re-unification Organisation (ZRO) in 1995. For political security for the unified tribes, an armed wing called Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA) was also formed by the seven tribes, which caused unease among the Kuki group. The Kuki group, which had its own armed group Kuki National Front (KNF) and used social taxes to fund it, started to levy more taxes and also demanding them from
119-509: The "wild hill tribes" in un-administered areas. The umbrella term " Kuki-Chin-Mizo " is often used to encompass the different ethnic groups inhabiting the Chin hills and surrounding regions. The Zo identity for the Kuki-Chin language speaking people spread across Northeast India and Myanmar's Chin State began to take shape soon after World War II. The people of the then Lushai Hills district in India (present-day Mizoram ) rallied behind
136-630: The 1970s to study at Oral Roberts University , a Christian institution in southern Tulsa. The first Zomi-language movie to receive a full-length theatrical debut was a 2021 English-Zomi bilingual film, written and directed by Burmese refugee Thang Mung, called Thorn in the Center of the Heart . The film first premiered in Michigan, where Mung was resettled by U.S. refugee services as a teenager. Kuki%E2%80%93Paite clashes The Kuki–Zomi Conflict ,
153-794: The KNF (P) then attacked Leijangphai, Tallian and Savaipaih, burning thirteen houses. On 29 September 1998, to make amends for the Saikul massacre and to end the conflict, the Kuki Inpi invited the Zomi Council to a feast. A bull was slaughtered for the occasion and both groups shared the meal. The next day, the Zomi Council reciprocated by inviting the Kukis to a feast. Hence, the conflict ended. Over 50 villages were destroyed and some 13 000 people were displaced. According to official records kept by
170-541: The Zomi identity reject the conventional labels " Kuki " and " Chin ", popularised during the British Raj , as colonial impositions. Even though "Zomi" was originally coined as an all-encompassing identity of the Kuki-Chin-speaking people, in practice, it has proved to be divisive, with considerable number of groups continuing to use the traditional labels "Kuki" and "Chin" and only certain sections adopting
187-749: The Zomi identity. The groups covered in the identity has varied with time. Compound names such as "Kuki-Zo" and "Zomi Chin" are sometimes used to paper over the divisions. The term "Zomi" combines the ancestral name "Zo" with "mi," meaning people in Zopau, their spoken language. Historically, the term Zo or Jo has been documented in various contexts, such as by Fan Chuo of the Tang dynasty and Father Sangermo in 1783. The British colonial administration complicated their identity by using various names like Kuki, Lushai, and Chin, terms initially employed by non-tribal plain peoples of Burma, Bangladesh, and India to refer to
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#1732794006536204-675: The formation, however, frictions began to develop due to the predominance of the Thadou language in the grouping. As a result, some 14 tribes left the group and formed a separate Khul Union. After the rise of the United Naga Council and NSCN-IM in the 1980s, some of the tribes that had been called 'Old Kuki' in the British nomenclature quit the Kuki umbrella and joined the Naga grouping. Seven 'New Kuki' tribes other than Thadou, stood on their own for some time, but eventually adopted
221-452: The tribes belonging to the 'Zomi' group. Thus the tribes calling themselves "Kuki" and those calling themselves "Zomi" came to loggerheads. On 24 June 1997, KNF militants lined up 20 villagers in Saikul and shot them, killing nine and wounding four. These killings started a series of communal violence that also drew in smaller ethnic groups. Several hundred Indian soldiers were moved into Churachandpur to restore order. A peace agreement
238-587: The tribes under its umbrella from rival tribes, mainly the Thadou Kukis . During 1997–1998, serious Kuki–Paite clashes developed in the Churachandpur district of Manipur, killing 350 people and displacing 13,000 people. At the end of the conflict, the Hmar and Gangte tribes left the Zomi group, leaving only five tribes in the collection. As of 2018 , the Zomi are the second-largest ethnic group in
255-657: Was an ethnic conflict during 1997–1998 between tribal communities in Churachandpur district in Manipur , India . The conflict started when a Kuki insurgent group, KNF, mercilessly killed 10 Paite villagers of Saikul Village on June 24, 1997, which led to pitting one group that subscribed to the Kuki label against another group that subscribed to the Zomi label, the latter being led by the Paites . The conflict lasted for over
272-510: Was negotiated after a few days by dignitaries from Mizoram Peace Mission, namely, Pu C. Chawngkunga, Pu H. Zathuam and Pu F. Lawmkima. It was signed by the KNF(P) and the ZRO, at Mata Dam in Churachandpur on 8 July 1997. Two days later, KNF(P) militants invaded Mata village, breaking the agreement. The warring parties were brought together again on 18 July 1997 to reaffirm the agreement. However,
289-689: Was taken in April 1993, when a Zomi Re-unification Organisation (ZRO) was formed at Phapian in Kachin State of Myanmar, under the leadership of Tedim Chins and Paites . It had the professed objective of unifying all the Kuki-Zo people divided across national borders (India, Myanmar and Bangladesh) under a united "Zomi" identity. With these antecedents, seven Kuki-Zo tribes of Churachandpur district in Manipur, that had previously declined to accept
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