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A SILENT CRY
Lalrinawmi Ralte
To share about our cry, our suffering and our struggle as a Mizo is very difficult because I afraid that people will misunderstood, misinterpreted and manipulate our story. It is because of that difficult situation I just call it "my best kept hidden story." With confidence, I can share my anger, frustration, sadness and shame because many of my readers may not be isolated from my concern.
Mizo people felt neglected by the Central Government and the Assam state (at that time Mizoram was under the Assam State) from the early political times. We are kept isolated from the rest of the other Indian states and the world. We are not given any development aid. We are economically and politically neglected. We could not feel a sense of belonging in the Indian because of the way we have been treated.
The feeling of isolation has become stronger and stronger every year. There was no intention from the central government to take our feeling seriously. The stronger we feel neglected, the further we are isolated from the central India.
It is very important to know where these Mizo feelings come from? What can we do about it? Can we ignore it, well it has been ignored for centuries. Can we continue to ignore it?
It is not interest to favor the separatism of Mizoram from the mainland India, but it is important to acknowledge the fact that the debate over independence. It is known that the British rule extended Mizoram into Indian territory. Since this is a sensitive issue, I am not prepared for the further discussion. However, I would like to mention that the Central Government and the Assam State treated us badly. They trap us not be able to see the rest of the other worlds, they isolated us so that we cannot see others. For instance, people from other countries are prevented from coming to visit us.
Some Mizo people formed an Underground Movement to be independent from India. The disturbance of Mizoram broke out in 1966. It lasted 20 years.
I was growing up at that time. That period was a period of killing, burning houses, starvation, sickness, political instability and upheaval. I remember vividly the longest curfew was consecutive 15 days and one hour was opened each day and we could not do anything during that an hour time. If we violate the order, we are scolded and threatened by the Indian armies as much as they treat the animals.
In our house we had trench under the floor to hide. The moment we heard the sound of the gun, we suddenly jumped into our trench. I remember how fearful I was all those days.
Our schools were occupied by the armies and we could not go to school. Our churches were the den of the Indian armies. Women were raped and tortured, children were starved without a proper food for years. Children suffered not only from starvation but also from psychological and physical defects. The psychological torture and mental abused of the Mizo people needs healing.
We cried to God for help, we cried to the Indian government for help, we cried to the Indian people for help and we cry to the Indian Christians for prayer support. No one heard our cry. The only answer we sense were the attitudes of the Indian armies. I would like to mention few of the attitudes of the Indian armies towards Mizo people:
1. Wherever the Indian armies (they) went they defiled the churches and sacred properties therein by robbing the churches, encamped themselves in the churches, dug trenches in the churchyards. The soldiers cut and tore the Holy Bibles and Hymn books into pieces. The Indian soldiers did not allow regular church meetings in most of their occupied villages" by A.Thanglura.
2. "You bloody Mizo, call your God Jesus, and bring them here that we may defeat them along with you." by an Indian Commanding Officer.
3. "We want Mizoram but not the people" Mr. Chaliha, the Chief Minister of Assam.
4. "Go back Christians where you come from" by Minister.
5. "The Government of India does not care to annihilate the Mizo people as long as Mizoram is part of India" by Mr. Gulzarilal Nanda, Home Minister.
6. One Mizo woman said, during the disturbance, six Indian soldiers raped me at one time, I was unconscious and sick for a long time. Till today I am not fully recover from that shock when I see the Indian armies.
7. The most fearful thing in my life was when my father was killed by the Indian armies right in front of my eyes - a eight years old boy.
That was really unforgetable pain and suffering. I criticize India because India is globally known for her non-violent independent struggle. Mahatma Gandhi was the living example and the source of peace and justice to the world. It is not my interest to tell the other story of Indians, but it is important for us, especially who are engaged in theological studies to look critically at the situations of the North East people.
It is very important for me to mention the political problems of Mizoram because my theological reflections and understanding of God are based on people's stories including my story. This is my story and why should I be ashamed to bring the true story? There is no beautiful story other than the true story. We criticize the apartheid in South Africa, we condemned the brutality in all over the world. But why don't we condemn the Indian army's brutality to the Mizo people. Why is our story hidden till today. Who hides our stories?
Our bad situation were never brought into international news at all because no one came to help us. Our suffering was a silent suffering. Those years of difficult situation, we cry to anyone we know, we raise our voice as much as we can. But the Indian government sensor every single bit of our cry. That may be the reason none of the Indian churches came forward to help us. We cannot blame them because they did not know our suffering and our bad situations. But we were still yearning for help to come from somewhere. Even when we give up our political expectation, at least we expect the churches to hear our crying.
The peace settlement was signed after twenty years, that was in 1986. I grew up in that bad situation with great difficulty, I am glad now at least a few of us could breath the atmosphere of the other brothers and sisters and to join you in our struggle of liberation.
It is very painful to belong to the minorities of the minorities everywhere because everything is ruled out by casteism. In India, casteism is the combination of caste and religion. Those two combinations are very powerful to suppress the minorities. A person like me, whose population is below point percent in Indian population, we are invisible to the Indian eyes, especially the political leaders. One great thing about the political leaders is they introduced "The National Integrity Program". This program is to acknowledge the diversity of our dear Indian cultures, religion, people and so on. But if we look at it critically, The National Integrity Program became very suspect. One of the quotes said:
Hinduism is the most tolerant religion. All religions can be included in Hinduism. For us, national integrity is like an invitation to be Hindu. We the Mizo are outcaste or untouchable, although we are not defiled by definition. Casteism reinforces the cultural imperialism and religious supremacy of the Hinduism. That's why the casteism applied the triple forces even in Christianity.
Casteism is not confined to Hinduism. It is time to debunk the casteism in the Christianity. It appears that the church in India established from the first century. St. Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus was said to come to India and established a church. Since then, the church in India was established. Now, we may say that the Indian church is as old as 2000 years. If we are to be proud of the old history of Indian Christianity, we need to debunk its ministry and analyzed critically. Despite its long history it was not from the Indian church we receive Christianity.
Till today, only few Indians knew us. Why are we wondering about the Mizo and many other Mongoloid stock who are happened to be in the Northeast of India. We are still invisible, the Christians in Northeast India are 15%, but we are still invisible in the ecumenical circle. Except until recently we had never had a chance to communicate with the rest of the other world. Our entry point to global participation is controlled and is difficult to get a chance for global sharing. We are never invited in the ecumenical conferences because we never get the invitation. The letter of invitation is censored and sent whom they favored to. I had a few months experience in the National Council of Churches in Nagpur. It was very clear to me the selection of global conferences that only done by few persons.
It is a privilege for me to tell you my story, a story of crying, a story of anger, a story of oppression. I am glad to tell you my story as much as I am sad. Our story does not end with crying, but we are still surviving. Therefore, survival is our life. Survival is so important for us to keep on going. Survival is our point of integrity. Let us celebrate our survival.
[Source – In God’s Image, Vol. 19/4 2000]
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