Zomi Congress for Democracy
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2016}}
{{Infobox political party
| name = Zomi Congress for Democracy
| native_name = {{noitalics|{{nobold|ဇိုမီး ဒီမိုကရေစီအဖွဲ့ချုပ်}}}}
| abbreviation = ZCD
| colorcode = #CC232A
| president = Pu Gin Kam Lian
| general_secretary = Pu Pau Lun Min Thang
| leader1_title =
| leader1_name =
| leader2_title =
| leader2_name =
| founded = {{Start date|1972}} (India)
{{Start date|1988}} (Myanmar)
| headquarters = Pansodan Road, Kyauktada Township, Yangon
| website =
| ideology = Zomi interests
| position =
| international =
| colours = Red
| seats1_title = Seats in the Amyotha Hluttaw
| seats1 = {{Composition bar|0|224|hex=#CC232A}}
| seats2_title = Seats in the Pyithu Hluttaw
| seats2 = {{Composition bar|1|440|hex=#CC232A}}
| seats3_title = Seats in the Chin State Hluttaw
| seats3 = {{Composition bar|1|24|hex=#CC232A}}
| symbol =
| country = Myanmar
| flag = 200px
}}
{{Contains special characters|Burmese}}
The Zomi Congress for Democracy (ZCD; {{langx|my|ဇိုမီး ဒီမိုကရေစီအဖွဲ့ချုပ်}}), formerly Zomi National Congress, is a political party in Myanmar. Originally formed in Manipur, India, most of its current support comes from Chin State, where the party was originally headquartered. The party is most popular in the Tonzang, Tedim, and Kalay Townships where their headquarters and strongholds are. The party has 15,000 members in Chin State.{{cite web|title=Myanmar Now {{!}} Zomi Congress for Democracy|url=http://www.myanmar-now.org/resources/i/?id=091c08e2-33cf-4e9c-874f-2cdf6200cceb}}
History
The origins of the Zomi National Congress (ZNC) are in Manipur, India. T. Gougin{{cite web |title=T. GOUGIN - The Father of the Zo people |url=http://gougin.blogspot.in/ |website=gougin.blogspot.in}} founded the organisation in Daizang, Churachandpur district in 1972 to campaign for the unification of the Zomi people in India and Myanmar. He submitted a memorandumMemorandum submitted to His Excellency V.V. GIRI, The President of India by the Zomi National Congress, Lamka {{cite web|url=http://www.zogam.org/documents.asp?article%3Ddocuments_244 |title=Memoranda : ZNC - Documents , Memoranda : ZNC, ZOMI, ZRO Organisation, ZOMI-Memoranda : ZNC |access-date=9 December 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140318072300/http://www.zogam.org/documents.asp?article=documents_244 |archive-date=18 March 2014 }} to the then President of India V. V. Giri. It was a major goal of ZNC to hold the first World Zomi Convention, which was eventually held at Champhai, Mizoram, India during 19–21 May 1988. Earlier in March 1988, T. Gougin joined forces with Brig. Sailo of the People's Conference of Mizoram to form a joint organisation called Zo-Reunification Organisation.{{citation |last=Haokip |first=T. S. Letkhosei |title=Ethnicity and Insurgency in Myanmar/Burma: A Comparative Study of the Kuki-Chin and Karen Insurgencies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cGpoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA182 |year=2018 |publisher=Educreation Publishing |page=182}}
After the 8888 uprising in 1988, the ZNC branch in Burma was registered as a political party. It was permitted to function as a political organisation until 1992, when the military junta abolished the party, and banned it from all political activities.
Cin Sian Thang, was chairman of the Zomi National Congress, until the party's dissolution. Elected as a Member of Parliament during Burma's ill-fated 1990 elections, he worked diligently for several years in defiance of the country’s ruling military junta. During the 1960s, Cin Sian Thang served as a leader of the Chin Ethnic Student Union while a student at Rangoon University. He has been imprisoned on at least six occasions by successive military regimes for his political activities between 1972 and 1999. In each instance, he served two years, during which he was subjected to brutal interrogations and torture, which has led to permanent health problems. He also served as a member of the Committee Representing People’s Parliament, a group supported by 251 candidates elected in 1990. Considered a moderate ethnic leader, Cin Sian Thang heavily promoted the CRPP as a rallying point for Burmese activists and ethnic leaders. He was the most outspoken elected ethnic leader in Myanmar. He is also the co-author of the book "In Burma, a Cry for U.N. Help".Washington Post, Thursday, 26 October 2006, p. A25
The party renamed to the Zomi Congress for Democracy after new naming restrictions imposed by the government leading up to the 2012 by-elections required them to drop the word 'National' from their name. The party formally registered this name with the Union Election Commission in 2012.[http://www.chinlandguardian.com/index.php/news/item/1364-znc-to-register-as-zomi-congress-for-democracy ZNC to register as the Zomi Congress for Democracy]
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Myanmar political parties}}
Category:1972 establishments in India
Category:Political parties established in 1972