Peace Dividend in Mizoram

Mizoram's turnaround can show the rest of India's Northeast what a cease-fire can do. But with peace here, progress must not take too long.

Ironies abound as we get off the Boeing at the airport that services Aizawl, the capital of the northeastern Indian state of Mizoram. Accompanying us in the hold is the body of a Mizo soldier who had died in a bomb blast in faraway Srinagar. Stands have been erected for the crowds that had gathered to receive the body. The bagpipes strike up, a ceremonial guard presents arms, medals flash in the sun, and a mountain of wreaths soon pileup on the coffin. The first wreath is laid by the state's home minister, Tawnluia, the former commander-in-chief of the Mizo National Front(MNF) and veteran of the 20-year insurgencyagainst 'India'. The MNF were in power only for a year after the 1986 accord that ended the insurgency, but were voted back in theNovember 1998 elections.

There is little flat land in Mizoram, and the airport is located a tortuous hour-and-half drive from Aizawl. The town suddenly comes into view on a ridge as a surprisingly extensive urban sprawl, housing almost a third of the state's population of around 800,000. Mizo settlements have always been located on hilltops, and many of them grew with the clustering of villages during the insurgency. The funeral procession wended its way through narrow streets to the soldier's home, with the crowds lined four deep. On benches in the drawing room overlooking the deep valley below, Chief Minister Zoramthanga, Laldenga's number two in the insurgency, sat shoulder-to-shoulder with the local army brass for a two-hour condolence meeting. The grieving mother, who had remained stoic and calm since the airport, finally brokedown. Speeches were made, psalms sung, gongs struck, and one of the relatives who had accompanied the body thanked the army for looking after its own, saying it was an honour to die for one's country.