Our Correspondent
Aizawl:
Condemning the then Indian government for bombing Aizawl 56 years ago, Mizoram minister Lalruatkima felt that it should have apologised to the people of the state for the “horrific crime”.
Lalruatkima, Minister for information, rural development, etc, was speaking at an event organised by Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), Mizoram’s apex students’ body, at Aizawl on Saturday night, to mark the 56th anniversary of the infamous air raids on Aizawl carried out by the Indian Air Force.
“The saddest chapter in Mizoram history took place on March 5, 1966 when the IAF conducted air raids on Aizawl and several other villages in Mizoram, which was believed to be the first and only aerial attacks conducted by the Indian government in its own territory,” Lalruatkima, said.
The massive bombardment, that took place five days after the declaration of ‘Mizoram Independence’ by Laldenga-led Mizo National Front, had turned the once-beautiful hill town into ashes. Historians said it was then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s panic attempt to quell the newborn insurgency in Mizoram, then a district under Assam.
“Several insurgencies broke out in India in which rebels took up arms against the Indian Union, but Mizos were the only Indians bombed by the Indian government. Such horrific incidents cannot be downplayed. India knows the truth, so do the people of Mizoram,” the MNF adviser said.
“India should have compensated us, it should have apologised for the horrific crime it committed,” Lalruatkima added.
According to some records, Hunter and Toofani fighter aircrafts were deployed for the Aizawl bombardment, which became the first and only aerial attack India has carried out against its own people. The fighters came from Tezpur, an IAF air base in Assam. Apart from Aizawl, Tualbung and Hnahlan villages in northeast Mizoram were bombarded. While the bombing caused colossal destruction, 13 civilians were killed, records said.
“In the first wave of attack the planes used machine guns and later on used bombs. The attack came in three waves, on the second day the attack lasted for about five hours,” historian Prof J V Hluna said.
Till today there has been no satisfactory answer as to why India used such excessive air force against its own citizens in order to suppress an insurgency. Surprisingly, the Mizo National Front was outlawed only later in 1968.
According to J V Hluna, in the aftermath of the Aizawl air raids, two MLAs of Assam, Stanley DD Nichols Roy and Hoover H Hynniewta, came to Mizoram (then Mizo district under Assam) to see with their own eyes what happened to the people of the Mizo district and were totally shocked by what they saw. Later in April, Nichols Roy moved a motion in the Assam House on the Aizawl air attack.
JV Hluna, in his book ‘Debates on Mizo Problems on Insurgencies, with special reference to the contributions of Stanley DD Nichols Roy, MLA and Hoover H Hynniewta, MLA,’ noted that a hot debate over the Mizo issue continued in the House. Nichols Roy even referred to a statement made by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi published in the now-defunct Hindusthan Standard on March 9, 1966 where the PM, answering a foreign correspondent, insisted that the air force was “deployed to drop men and supplies.”
Strongly condemning the use of air force, the other MLA Hynniewta produced photographs of one unexploded bomb and some fragments of exploded bombs as proof of the Aizawl air attack, which was strongly denied by the Government of India, the book said.
Since 2008, the MZP has observed March 5 as Zoram Ni or Zoram Day. The idea is to revive the idea of self-determination and instill the importance of sacrifice among the younger generation.