Last modified: 2012-10-06 by ian macdonald
Keywords: mizoram | mizo | zoram | zalen-gam | magen david |
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by António Martins
In Smith (1975b) (p. 303, #22) there is a flag of the Mizo people (the inhabitants of Mizoram). The Flag is
horizontal white-blue with a red disk in the middle.
Jarig Bakker, 7 June 1999
In October 1998, Jaume mentioned that India's Mizo people and Myanmar's
Chin people were the same. Mr Pasch once sent me a number of Myanmar independentist flags, which he had found on a 1975 article about Burmese flags, and those included a flag of the Chin people which actually is the one found in
Smith (1975b). He also added that the people were also called the Zomi and the country would be called Zozam, were it to gain independence.
Thanh-Tâm Lê, 7 June 1999
by António Martins
Indian states officially do not have flags of their own, except for Jammu and Kashmir.
However, some unofficial flags have been reported. The flag shown here has
been reported by Whitney Smith in the Flag Bulletin.
Jaume Ollé, 23 November 1996
We do not have our own flag or any connection with Ceylon or Iceland. Our original traditional colours are red, white and black,
and these colours are used by some voluntary organisations within Mizoram. But they do not represent our whole state or the whole community.
Van Neih Tluanga, Mizoram, 28 May 2000
Mizoram is probably a wrongly reported flag. I see that the Iceland flag was also reported like the one of Ceylon because the captions "Ceylon" and "Iceland" confused the translator. Mizoram was populated by Mizos, that were ethnically close to Chins. Perhaps "Iceland" can be confused with "Chin Land" for a European translator and reported and finally wrongly attributed. But in all, the national colors of the Chins are the R-W-B. Seems that the current colors of the Mizos are the green and the red.
Jaume Ollé, 8 June 1999
In Flags of Aspirant Peoples this flag is labelled as "Mizoram (Mizos, Zomis or "Chins"). The flag might be associated with a movement and not with the Mizoram state - as the caption
of the chart seems to say. Encyclopaedia Universalis says that 'Mizo' is a generic term for several
Tibeto-Burmese tribes, including the Lushai who settled in what is now Mizoram. 90% of the Lushai were converted by Baptist missionaries. This may explain the cross on the flag.
Ivan Sache, 16 Sep 1999
I contacted a high official in the Government of Mizoram, who declines to be identified publicly, and was informed that the white-blue flag with the red sun was a flag used by the Mizo National Front from 1961 until 1986. Prior to the formation of Mizo National Front, which had as its goal uniting all 12 Mizo tribes in the independent state of Greater Mizoram, that organization existed under the names:
In 1961 it assumed the name of Mizo National Front and initiated the armed struggle against Indian Government. MNF was outlawed in 1967, but entered negotiation with the Indians in 1971, which led to compromises on both sides and creation of the Union Territory in 1972. MNF became a political party and held power several times, bringing statehood to Mizoram in 1986. It exercises the power in the State currently, inviting heavy criticism from other segments of Mizo political spectrum for selling out ideas of independence for some cushy positions in the administrative bureaucracy.
My source cannot confirm positively the existence of the "Icelandic" flag, but taking a look at it, (I sent him the image) is not excluding entirely that it was used early by the Mizo Union in late forties and fifties. The colors are the same as chosen for the flag of MNF, and the cross is a popular symbol of Christianity (beside the "Star of David") among overwhelmingly Christian Mizos - Presbyterians, Baptists, Roman Catholics and members of the Salvation Army. Additionally, the group which split from MNF in 1997, and adheres to old demands of independence for Greater Mizoam, Zoram Nationalist Party - ZNP, has a white flag with red sun in the middle, having twelve rays for 12 Mizo tribes.
Chrystian Kretowicz, 15 June 2003
by Nicholas Rucks
I saw yesterday in a program called "Quest for the Lost Tribes" the flag
of a people called the "Manmasseh" or "Manasseh". The program reported these people live in the
states of Manipur and Mizoram near the India-Burma border and they allege
that they belong to the tribe of Manasseh which is one of the 10 lost
tribes of Israel. According to the program they are trying to create a
sovereign Israelite state in that area. They display a flag that has three
horizontal stripes: Green, Red, and Blue. The red stripe is double the width
of the other two stripes. At the center of the red stripe there is a blue
Star of David on a white background. The white background has the same
contour as the star. The size seems to be 2:3
Victor Quinones, 17 Apr 2000
The white background of the Star of David does not quite touch the green
and blue stripes. The flag was designed for a proposed independent Manmasseh
state which is called Zaleg B'en or something like that. The Star of David
was selected because it was a neutral symbol among the different sub-tribes
that compose the Manmasseh or Manasseh people.
Victor Quinones, 19 Apr 2000
The flag presented above as Manmasseh (?) people has nothing to do with the
Menashe People of neither Mizoram, Manipur or Chin State. The television report
was totally mistaken, most likely out of ignorance, attributing that flag to Menashe people. This flag is, certainly now, the flag of Zale'n-gam, the
supranational flag of Kuki people from Mizoram, Manipur, Chin State of Myanmar
and northern Bangladesh. This fact was confirmed by the extensive correspondence
with the elders of the Kuki nation and other sources in both, Mizoram and
Chrystian Kretowicz, 14 October 2004
from YMA site
The website for the Young Mizo Association displays their flag, and states:
Young Mizo Association (YMA) is a non-political, Voluntary organization, established on the 15th June 1935 at Aizawl, Mizoram. ... YMA is an all-India organization with Branches at Mizoram, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura. It is registered under the Societies Act (Act XXI of 1960)contributed by Michael Smuda, 25 June 2001