United Zou Organization, General Headquarters opposes
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, February 01 2024:
The United Zou Organization, General Headquarters (UZO, GHQ) opposed the Government's intention to fence the Indo-Myanmar border without taking into account the socio-historical implications and the existence of the Zou/Zo people.
A press release signed by the president and general secretary, UZO, GHQ also condemned the Central Government's decision to remove the Free Movement Regime (FMR) .
As per the press release, 'the Zou/Zo population in India and Myanmar are one and the same, sharing the same origin, speaking the same dialect, and upholding the same customs and traditions.
The Free Movement Regime (FMR) between India and Myanmar facilitates socio-cultural and economic exchanges, allowing individuals on both sides of the border to regularly interact beyond this artificially drawn border' .
In view of the above, UZO, GHQ maintained that it would be an infringement of indigenous people's rights to try to stop the same people from having individual and socio-cultural exchanges.
The organization also appealed to the Central Government to reverse its decision to unilaterally abolish the FMR and erect a border fence in the middle of the Zou/Zo ancestral territory.
The release also mentioned that, 'The Zou/Zo are trans-border communities who have long lived in the former Manipur-Chin (now Indo-Myanmar) boundary regions.
Without our knowledge or approval, the British colonial overlords divided up our inhabited regions and gave them to Manipur and Chin Hills, in the late 19th century' .
'The British referred to the Zou/Zo inhabited regions which were located on Manipur's southern border as the "neutral zone", "no man's land", or "crossed-hatched area".
For a very long time there has been no clear boundary between Manipur and Myanmar', it said.