AIZAWL:
The Mizo Students’ Union (MSU) sent a reminder to a businessman, Kamrul Islam Laskar, to surrender his Scheduled Tribe (ST) certificate by February 18, failing which they “will launch a search operation to find him”.
“On February 5, we personally requested Laskar to surrender his certificate, which the latter promised to do on February 7. On the scheduled date, he made an excuse, stating he is out of town,” Laldinsanga, assistant general-secretary of MSU said, through a statement on February 16.
He added that he (Laskar) is absconding and not reachable via phone as well.
Even though the certificate was issued to him in 2018, this issue came into focus recently when Laskar was awarded contract worth crores of rupees by the Mizoram government, leading to opposition parties fanning the fire.
According to the MSU, the businessman, who owns KR Construction at Thuampui locality, Aizawl, changed his name to Kamlova Chhangte (a Mizo first name and clan name) and allegedly acquired a ST certificate in 2018.
The certificate mentions Tlangchhuana Chhangte as his father. A copy of an affidavit, dated September 2002, purportedly made by Chhangte, states that he “adopted Kamrul as his son under Mizo customary Law known as Saphun” has gone viral.
Saphun allows people from one clan to adopt the customs and practices of another clan. That said, it only applies between Mizo clans, and a non-Mizo cannot become a Mizo under the custom.
The MSU, in the statement, added that they have appealed to the Aizawl Deputy Commissioner (DC) in November last year to cancel his ST certificate, but nothing could be done as the DC office was gutted by fire in December.
Notably, the central committee of the Young Mizo Association (YMA), the largest civil society group in the state, too has been demanding cancellation of the same, considering Laskar’s non-tribal status.