GUWAHATI
Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga has indicated he could be a part of any bid by India to broker peace in Myanmar next door.
Mizoram had been bearing the brunt of the civil war in Myanmar since a military coup in February 2021. According to K. Vanlalvena, the State’s lone Rajya Sabha member, more than 40,000 refugees from Myanmar are staying in 60 relief camps in Mizoram.
Mizoram shares a 510 km border with Myanmar.
Mr. Zoramthanga told journalists in the State capital Aizawl that his government had been receiving feelers from Myanmar that India should play peacemaker between the military junta and the civilian resistance forces.
“This is a golden opportunity for our country to resume the peace mission we started in the past to restore peace in Myanmar,” the Chief Minister said after meeting President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi.
Mr. Zoramthanga drew from his experience as a peacemaker sent by the Centre along with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval to Myanmar five years ago. The peace process between the Myanmar military government and ethnic groups was aborted when the Aung San Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy came to power in 2015.
A former extremist-turned-politician, Mr. Zoramthanga also alluded to his role as a mediator between the Centre and the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland. More than two decades ago, he had met the NSCN (I-M) leadership in Bangkok.
“The ethnic underground groups operating in Myanmar seek a federal arrangement within the Union of Myanmar and secession is not their main goal,” the Chief Minister said, underscoring the need to push for peace in the neighbouring country.
