Imphal: The first Mizo Integration Cultural Festival began on Thursday night at Saikawt Village Playground in Churachandpur district of Manipur.
The two-day event is being held under the theme “Integration Through Culture” and features performances by artists from Mizoram and local performers from Churachandpur.
The Mizo Integration Council organised the festival following its formation on August 15, 2025. The council aims to bring together the Chin, Kuki, Mizo, Zomi and Hmar communities.
Before organising the festival, it had held educational seminars featuring prominent personalities, including former Mizoram Rajya Sabha MP K. Vanlalvena.
Council president RL Haokip said the festival aims to promote unity among communities that share a common identity despite being known by different names.
He said differences in their names and dialects did not divide them, adding that people from these communities could understand one another despite speaking different dialects. He also said meetings in Churachandpur (Lamka) were conducted without the need for an outside language because participants could understand one another.
Chief guest and Saikot MLA Paolienlal Haokip recalled a tribal conference held at Kanlenpui in 1965, where regional leaders had agreed to unite their people under a single administration.
He also referred to the 1986 Mizoram Accord, signed under the leadership of Laldena, which he said left room for the issue of unifying Mizo-inhabited areas to be revisited.
The MLA called for renewed attention to those provisions and expressed hope that the cultural festival would help strengthen unity among the communities.
The festival will conclude on Friday, with several dignitaries expected to attend. They include Mizoram Art and Culture Minister C. Lalsawivunga, political advisor to the Mizoram Chief Minister Lalmuanpuia Punte and several Kuki-Zo legislators from Churachandpur.