Former Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga offers to help mediate Myanmar peace process

Former Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga, president of India’s Mizo National Front (MNF), said he is ready to help facilitate Myanmar’s political and peace processes if the Indian government asks him again, according to an interview with Northeast News. He made the remarks discussing his meetings with India’s Union Home Minister and national security officials in June. Zoramthanga said his years of experience working with Naga groups, other northeastern communities, and people in Myanmar leave him prepared to assist again if the Indian government asks him to help advance Myanmar’s peace process, Northeast News reported. Peace talks are highly challenging and go beyond simple negotiations between two governments, he said, adding that the real task is gaining the trust of those who have lived underground for decades — describing it as “winning someone’s heart before marriage.” He also said stability in Myanmar is crucial to peace in Northeast India, including in conflict-torn Manipur. Myanmar’s political situation directly influences the flow of arms, drugs, trade and other cross-border activity into the region, he said, since several rivers originate in Myanmar — making peace there essential to resolving Manipur’s crisis and the wider region’s problems. Some Manipur political leaders have reportedly linked the state’s ongoing conflict to migrants from Myanmar, drugs, and trafficking, and have pointed to the prolonged refugee influx as a growing burden on the region — though the specific leaders and outlet have not been confirmed. Responding to Zoramthanga’s offer, Chin National Front (CNF) spokesperson Salai Htet Ni told Mizzima that Zoramthanga is an experienced figure in peacemaking, but that revolutionary groups currently have no position on the junta’s peace talks. “We have made no remarks regarding the sham government’s peace talks, so there is no stance to offer yet. However, if he is appointed, Zoramthanga is indeed an experienced individual,” Salai Htet Ni said. As part of a 100-day plan, the junta has invited both NCA-signatory and non-signatory groups to join peace talks by 31 July. That invitation has been rejected by the Steering Committee for the Establishment of a Federal Democratic Union (SCEF), whose members include the Kachin Independence Organisation/Army (KIO/KIA), Karen National Union (KNU), CNF, Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), and the opposition National Unity Government (NUG). Zoramthanga joined the MNF at age 22 in 1966, fighting an armed rebellion against the Indian government for Mizoram’s independence. The MNF operated from bases in Myanmar’s Chin State, Sagaing Region, and Kachin State for nearly 20 years before signing the Mizoram Peace Accord with India’s central government in 1986, after which it became a legal political party. Zoramthanga later served three terms as Mizoram’s Chief Minister — from 1998 to 2008, and again from 2018 to 2023 — and currently leads the opposition in the state.