File picture of an MNF militant

Silchar, March 10: Forty years ago, the bamboo flowers bloomed and the famine struck. The guns boomed too, from the Mizo National Front (MNF) recruits with Laldenga spearheading the movement for secession.

Four decades later, the spectre of another mautam, famine in local parlance, is looming large. This time, there?s no fear of another insurgency. Instead, the ghost of the MNF is being laid to rest.

Bowing to pressure from surrendered insurgents and the people, the Mizoram government has decided to build a martyrs? column at Aizawl in memory of MNF members who lost their lives during the 20-year-long insurgency in the state.

Lalrinchhana, Mizoram?s minister for relief and rehabilitation, said the final list of the martyrs would be prepared after thorough scrutiny.

The authorities are sifting through police and intelligence documents to make sure that no fake names make their way into the list.

He said so far, 2,252 names have been enlisted for inscription in the memorial.

The minister promised that the structure would be an architectural marvel.

Lalrinchhana said the government would receive applications for inclusion of names in the column till March 31 from the families of those who were killed in the upheaval in the then Lushai Hills district, later renamed Mizoram.

Aizawl already has a memorial for Laldenga, the fabled hero of Mizo insurgency, who, after the signing of the peace accord in 1986, was made chief minister.

Some of the surrendered MNF militants are now in politics while some of the lower-ranked ones were taken into the police force.

However, there has been widespread resentment among the surrendered militants who complained that they were deprived of rehabilitation benefits.

Some officials in the Mizoram government, however, have been pleading for caution while compiling a list of those who had sacrificed their lives as there are possibilities that some spurious names may find their way into the list.

The important names which figure in the list of the dead are ?Capt.? Rochhina, Lalnunmawia, vice-president of the MNF, and Lalhleia, who masterminded the killing of the top police officials, including G.H. Arya, the inspector-general of police of Mizoram, in 1975.