Special Motion in Mizoram House To Return Cannons

Aizawl, Jul 15 : Mizoram Assembly today adopted a special motion to ensure that the two historic cannons, taken by the first battalion of the Assam Rifles to Nagaland, be restored to Mizoram.

Cutting across party lines, the members said that the two cannon’s, brought to Mizoram in 1892 by the then Superintendent of the erstwhile Lushai Hills district Lt.Colonel J. Shakespear, belonged to the people of Mizoram and should be in the possession of the people of the state.

According to the INTACH (Mizoram Chapter), the cannons were used in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and had been kept in Aizawl for over a century.

Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla said that he had written to the Union Home Minister and the then Director General of the Assam Rifles asking them to instruct the first battalion of the Assam Rifles to return the two cannons.

The special motion was moved by Lalduhawma of the Zoram Nationalist Party.