Mizoram school students pledge not to marry people outside their community
Mizoram school students pledged not to marry people outside the Mizo community on Monday.
Students of six different schools in Aizawl, Mizoram, pledged not to marry people outside the Mizo community on September 2. The Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) - Mizoram's apex student body - administered the pledge in different schools on Monday, The Indian Express reports. The pledge is part of the MZP's campaign that aims to protect the Mizo tribal culture and identity.
The campaign was launched in 2015 in an attempt to urge children to refrain from marrying a non-Mizo. "Since 2015, every September we have been holding this campaign urging children not to marry a non-Mizo. We cannot get assimilated with outsiders, because we are a very small community. If we marry outsiders, that's what will happen. We will be outnumbered. We have one MP in the Lok Sabha," Ricky Lalbiakmawia, a senior leader of the MZP, told The Indian Express.
Ricky Lalbiakmawia also said that several MZP leaders visited different schools across the state and "reminded" children to avoid marrying non-Mizos - it isn't being enforced but advised, he added.
"On Monday, MZP leaders visited different schools across the state. Even in state capital Aizawl, we visited many schools. We reminded children that they should avoid marrying non-Mizos, outsiders. It was, of course, an oral pledge and not a written one. We do not force anyone, but just advising them," Lalbiakmawia said.
As per the Mizo customary law, a Mizo woman will lose her tribal rights if she marries outside her community.
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