Aizawl, Dec. 10: A group which claims Mizos to be a lost tribe of Israel has said it would continue to fight for an independent homeland for the “Mizo Israelites”.

“We know people are laughing behind our backs for calling ourselves one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel and fighting for an independent homeland. But we will persevere and in God’s appointed time, shall be successful in our endeavour,” Lalchhanhima Sailo of Chhinlung Israel People’s Convention Party (CIPCP) said in a function to commemorate the International Human Rights Day at Vanapa Hall here today.

The CIPCP believes that the Mizo people are descendants of one of the lost tribes of Israel — either the Manashe tribe or the Ephraim tribe — who came to the present Mizoram after wandering through China, Tibet and Burma for centuries.

However, their aim is not to migrate to Israel as some Mizos, who describe themselves as one of the Israel’s 12 tribes, have done.

Instead, the party is demanding that the United Nations declare the land occupied by Mizo ethnic tribes as an independent nation. Some parts of Myanmar and Bangladesh bordering Mizoram have been chalked out as part of a greater Mizoram by the CIPCP.

Lalchhanhima said the party has been making good progress in their interface with the UNO. “The memorandum we had submitted to the UNO has been processed and we will continue with our efforts to see that our rights are given to us,” he said.

Mizoram governor A.R. Kohli, who also attended the International Human Rights Day function, said, “All should know their rights as ignorance could lead to these rights being violated”.

“There are times when our birthright and the rights we have as human beings become violated or misunderstood. We must make sure that we know our rights so that we may be able to preserve them,” Kohli said.

He hoped that the observance of the Day would help bring understanding of the rights that people have as human beings.