Silchar, Nov. 9: Mizoram chief minister Lal Thanhawla has underscored the importance of closer ties with neighbouring Myanmar.

Speaking at the concluding ceremony of the three-day Zofest 2016 at the border village of Zokhawthar, near the Indo-Myanmar border in Champhai district, last evening, he said there was a need to strengthen the bonds between the Zo brethren in Mizoram and Myanmar.

The Centre had agreed to the Mizoram government's request to build four new bridges across the Indo-Myanmar border, he said, expressing the hope that the ongoing World Bank-funded project to widen Champhai-Zokhawthar road would eventually make inroads into Falam and Tiddim (Myanmar).

"We lost land in the west on the Indo-Bangladesh border. But we will never support fencing of the Indo-Myanmar border due to our close ties with our brothers living in the neighbouring country," he said.

Elaborating on how the government of Mizoram always provided shelter to Zo ethnic groups whenever there were ethnic flare-ups, Lal Thanhawla called on the Zo tribe to coexist and strengthen their bonds of friendship and brotherhood.

The festival, organised by the Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), a students' body, was aimed at bringing the different extended Zo brethren or Zo hnahthlak spread across India, Bangladesh and Myanmar closer and was directed towards strengthening the unity and friendship of the various tribes.

Lal Thanhawla said the Zo people were one of the worst sufferers of the British policy of divide and rule and the extended Zo brethren had been divided across three countries and even within the country across Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura and Assam. "But despite this sad fact, we are blood brothers and this division cannot change our relationships," he said.

He called upon the Zo people to be law-abiding, responsible and trustworthy citizens of whichever country they reside in. On the acceptability of the Duhlian dialect, the lingua franca of the Zo people, the chief minister said: "We must accept Zo tribes who do not understand Duhlian within our extended umbrella of Zo brethren."

Over 1,000 delegates congregated at Zokhawthar from Mizoram, Manipur, Assam, Tripura, Bangladesh and Myanmar. The festival also showcased a costume parade of 19 ethnic Zo tribes such as Lusei, Mara, Lai, Pang, Bawm, Thadou-Kuki, Chin, Malsawm, Ranglong, Hrangkhawl, Vaiphei, Zomi, Hmar, Biate and others.