User talk:Siam Pi

Zomi (Zo People) is the name of a major tribe found in various parts of South and South East Asia. They are a tribe of the larger ethnic group which the Britishers called them as Chin in Myanmar and Kuki in Manipur and Lushai(now Mizo) in Mizoram, but it is notable that, European writer, Sir J. George Scott claimed in his book Handbook of Practical Information 1911 & Burma and Beyond 1932 that, the Zomi never called themselves by such names as Kuki or Chin or Lushai. He wrote: 'The names like Kuki and Chin are not national, and have been given to them by their neighbours. Like others, the people do not accept the name given by the Burmese and ourselves; they do not call themselves Chins, and they equally flout the name of Kuki which their Assamese neighbours use. They call themselves Zhou or Shu and in other parts Yo or Lai.. The term Zomi, meaning 'Zo People', is derived form the term, Zo, the descendants of their progenitor, 'Zo'". Regarding the truth of Zomi as the racial designation of the so-called Kuki-Chin people, U Thein Re Myint, a well known Burmese Writer, who knew Chin history, perhaps better than the Chin themselves remarks: 'Even though these tribes of people, who are called Chin, do not necessarily protest their name, their original name is, in fact, Zomi '. Two British administrators, Bertram S. Carey and H.N. Tuck who place Zo people under modern system of administration record as thus: 'Those of the Kuki tribes which we designate as "Chins" do not recognise that name……they call themselves YO (ZO)…and YO (ZO) is the general name by which the Chins call their race' They are found in northwestern Myanmar, northeastern India and Bangladesh. Anthropologists classify them as Tibeto-Burman speaking member of the Mongoloid race. In the past they were little known by this racial nomenclature. They were known by the non-tribal plain peoples of Myanmar, Bangladesh and India as Chin, Kuki, or Lushai. Subsequently the British employed these terms to christen those 'wild hill tribes' living in the "un-admiial. They are Zomi not because they live in the highlands or hills, but are Zomi and call themselves Zomi because they are the descendants of their great great ancestor, 'Zo'". The Zo people have common primordial name (i.e. Zo) common history, cultural affinities, belief system, economic life and cherished the dream of restoring their glorious past. They remain independent, self-sufficient and were never subjugated until the advent of the British imperialist. They governed themselves according to their traditional polity and legal system ensuring justice for all. The consequences of British imperialism proved disastrous and painful for the Zomi as they were subjected to subjugation, segmentation, division and confusion. As a result their primordial identity was almost completely forgotten and neglected. The Zo people and their land was dismembered, bifurcated and appended to three sovereign countries – India, Burma and Bangladesh – by British imperialists to fit their own administrative conveniences without Zo people's knowledge and consent. The state boundaries within the nation-state further scattered Zo people and they became ethnic minorities wherever they are. They are deprived of their socio-economic, political and cultural rights and were subjugated as aliens in their ancestral homeland.