AIZAWL:
The Martarte Thlanmual (Martyrs Graveyard), a graveyard dedicated to the “martyrs” who died during the Mizo National Front (MNF)-led insurgency during 1966 to 1986, from now on, will be looked after by the state Art and Culture department.
The MNF had built the Martyr’s Graveyard after consultations with local churches and voluntary organisations when it was in power between 1998 and 2008, and many mortal remains of its cadres were exhumed from different parts of the state, including outside Mizoram, and reburied there.
The 2,660 sq metres complex, built almost entirely of white marble, is large enough to host 2,400 granite plaques designating the names, addresses and date of deaths of those who died during the insurgency.
It is not clear exactly how many people lost their lives to the insurgency, but besides the 1,563 dead commemorated at the Martyr’s Graveyard, an organisation called the Mizoram Martyr Families’ Association lists out 2,186 victims.
The MNF and its main rival Congress have been squabbling over the insurgency’s legacy for decades, with the Congress accusing the MNF’s then leaders of causing immense hardship to ordinary people for the failed independence movement, pushing Mizoram far behind other states in terms of development.
On the other hand, the MNF meanwhile maintains the insurgency secured constitutional safeguards for the Mizos of Mizoram and gave birth to the state as it is now (from being a district within Assam before the insurgency years).
Interestingly, the Congress had built its own “Martyrs Cemetery” at Sesawng, about 40 kilometres east of Aizawl, to commemorate all those who died during the insurgency, including those killed by security forces and those by the Mizo National Army, the then armed wing of the MNF.