Zo Kutpui Festival organised in Mizoram

The Mizoram State Government is organising Zo Kutpui festival across 10 states in the country and also in countries such as Myanmar, US and Bangladesh.

Highlights

The first edition of the festival is to begin in the city of Vanghmun in Tripura. The festival will then move to other states having Mizo population. By conducting such as festival, the Mizoram Government is trying to unify the Mizo population in the country and also across the world. The event will host performances of several Mizo tribes.

Mizo population

The Mizos are tribal people that are spread between Myanmar in the east to Bangladesh in the west. After independence, the Mizo people were governed by the Assamese Government. In 1952, a subsidiary government was created under Assam called Lushai hills, the now Mizoram. However, the Mizo people continued to demand freedom of independence to join Myanmar. The Mizo National Front (MNF) was created in 1961 to achieve independence of Mizoram. In 1966, the MNF created its armed wing and declared independence under Operation Jericho. The area was then declared disturbed and in 1967, GoI enforced AFSPA.

Mizo Peace Accord

After several negotiations of peace, in 1987, the Rajiv Gandhi Government signed the Mizoram Peace Accord establishing peace in the region.

Mizo Tribals

In India, the Mizo population is found in Manipur, Tripura and Mizoram. There are 12 Mizo clans identified. It includes Pawi-Lusei, Tlau, Khiangte, Hualhnam, Lai, Phaite, Renthlei, Hmar, Chawngthu, Pang, Ralte and Hualngo.

However, the three major Mizo groups are Lusei people, Lushai hills people and Chin people.In