The Zomi Congress for Democracy (ZCD; my, ဇိုမီး ဒီမိုကရေစီအဖွဲ့ချုပ်) is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. Most of the party's support comes from Chin State, where the original ZNC was headquartered. The party is most popular in the

Tonzang Tonzang(တွန်းဇန်) is a town, located in northern Chin State, western side of Myanmar. Tonzang is at about 37 miles north-eastern of Tedim town. The people who live in Tonzang are called Zo and Zomi. They speak Zo, Zomi and Burmese ...

and

Tedim Township Tedim or Tiddim Township ( my, တီးတိန်မြို့နယ်) is a township in Tedim District of the Chin State of Myanmar (Burma). The administrative centre for the township is the town of Tedim Tedim (, , ( Zo: ''Tedim Khawpi' ...

s, where their headquarters and strongholds are. The party has 15,000 members in Chin State.

History

The ZCD was founded as the ''Zomi National Congress'' (ZNC) in

Daizang Daizang is a Zou village within Churachandpur district of Manipur, India. This place is best known for hosting the first JCA Conference on 20 February 1954. This historic meet was a watershed in the social history of the Zou people in India. It ...

Manipur Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

in 1972. Under the leadership of T. Gougin and S. K. Samte, the organisation campaigned for the unification of the

Zomi people The Chin people (, ) are a Southeast Asian people native to Chin State and its neighbouring states of Myanmar.Head, JonathanBurma's 'abused Chin need help' ''BBC News'', Jan 28, 2009, accessed Jan 28, 2009 The Chin are one of the founding group ...

in India and Myanmar, and submitted a

memorandum A memorandum ( : memoranda; abbr: memo; from the Latin ''memorandum'', "(that) which is to be remembered") is a written message that is typically used in a professional setting. Commonly abbreviated "memo," these messages are usually brief and ...

to the then

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murm ...

V. V. Giri. It was a major goal for the ZNC that the first ''World Zomi Convention'' be held at Champhai, Mizoram, India from 19–21 May 1988; a goal which was completed. In 1988, after the

8888 uprising The 8888 Uprising ( my, ၈၈၈၈ အရေးအခင်း), also known as the People Power UprisingYawnghwe (1995), pp. 170 and the 1988 Uprising, was a series of nationwide protests, marches, and riots in Burma (present-day Myanmar) th ...

, 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 A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...

abolished the party, and banned it from all political activities.

Chin Sian Thang Cin Sian Thang (6 April 1938 – 31 July 2021) was a Burmese politician who was chairman of the Zomi Congress for Democracy, formerly the Zomi National Congress, a political party in Myanmar (formerly Burma). Biography Elected as a member of ...

, 67, 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

. 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''". 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.ZNC to register as the Zomi Congress for Democracy
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References

{{Myanma political parties Defunct political parties in India Political parties in Myanmar Political parties of minorities 1972 establishments in India 1988 establishments in Burma Political parties established in 1972 Political parties with year of disestablishment missing