The group that returned from Myanmar at the international border near Zokhawthar. (Photo courtesy: DIPR Mizoram)
Aizawl, Jun 4 : Eighteen people from four families who undertook a journey on foot from Mizoram to China to “escape” from Aadhaar enrolment and what they believed to be “an impending darkness waiting to befall the state” returned home on Wednesday after spending over two months in captivity in Myanmar.
The group, including four minors and seven women, are members of a religious sect that lives in Tlangsam village near the eastern town of Champhai, close to the border with Myanmar.
An official from Champhai said they admitted to having been afraid of the Aadhaar project, which they interpret as the number of the anti-Christ prophesied in Christian theology. They also admitted to having undertaken the journey to escape a “blanket of darkness” that has in recent years been prophesied to befall Mizoram by some self-styled modern day prophets, the official said.
The group was detained by the Myanmar government at Tamu near Tahan in Myanmar’s Sagaing Division. Mizos who live in the region, including the late MLA of Tamu, D Thangliana and leaders of the Mizo Thalai Pawl (youth group), intervened on their behalf and tried to get them released. The efforts eventually paid off and the group was finally released.
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