The
Zo identity for the
Kuki-Chin language speaking people spread across
Northeast India, and Myanmar's
Chin State began to take shape soon after World War II. The people of the then
Lushai Hills district in India (present-day
Mizoram) rallied behind a "
Mizo" ("Zo people") identity in 1946. In 1953, the Baptist Associations of
Tedim,
Falam and
Hakha in Myanmar's
Chin State adopted Zomi ("Zo people") as their "national" name (subsuming the various tribal identities). In India's
Manipur state, T. Gougin formed a "United Zomi Organisation" in 1961 and "Zomi National Congress" in 1972. The final step in these Zomi nationalist movements was taken in April 1993, when a
Zomi Re-unification Organisation (ZRO) was formed at Phapian in
Kachin State of Myanmar, under the leadership of
Tedim Chins and
Paites. It had the professed objective of unifying all the Kuki-Zo people divided across national borders (India, Myanmar and Bangladesh) under a united "Zomi" identity. With these antecedents, seven
Kuki-Zo tribes of
Churachandpur district in Manipur, that had previously declined to accept a
Kuki identity, agreed to come under the banner of Zomi Re-unification Organisation in 1995. The seven tribes were
Hmar,
Zou,
Vaiphei,
Gangte,
Simte,
Sukte (
Tedim Chins) and
Paite, with the Paites leading the collection. Its formation day is said to be observed on 20 February every year as
Zomi Nam Ni. By 1997, the organisation also formed an underground military wing called
Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA) ostensibly to defend the tribes under its umbrella from rival tribes, mainly the
Thadou Kukis. During 1997–1998, serious
Kuki–Paite clashes developed in the Churachandpur district of Manipur, killing 350 people and displacing 13,000 people. At the end of the conflict, the Hmar and Gangte tribes left the Zomi group, leaving only five tribes in the collection. == Diaspora ==