Seminar on Hmar Customary Law on June 11-12

Sielmat: A seminar on Hmar customary Law will be held on June 11 and 12 at Sielmat in Churachandpur, Manipur.

Information Secretary of Hmar Youth Association, Tuithaphai Jt. Hqrs, Pu Lalbiekthang Buhril said this in a press release on May 22.

The meet will be held at Siemat Zawlbuk.

The youth association has invited church leaders, social activists and individuals to attend the meet.

However, it is not known whether the meeting will be only attended by Hmars from Manipur.

According to some sources from Mizoram and Assam, no invitation has been sent to them.

“Is this meeting going to reflect our concern. We never even heard about it until this time,” says one prominent leader from Hmarkhawlien in Assam.

Likewise, Hmar leaders from Shillong are not aware of such meeting when this report was filed.

There has been concerns, lately, that attempts are on to inject a heavy dose of church ethics into the Hmar Customary Law. Some social activists have voiced their concerned about this saying that “such move will only create more hypocrites” in the Hmar society.

“For instance, the two common form of marriage followed in the community are ‘Kohran Dan’ and ‘Arasi Hnuoi’ (Inruk). The first type of marriage is commonly accepted as a “valid marriage” after Hmars converted to Christianity and those who did not tied the knot accordingly are labelled as ‘sinners’ and look upon as outcasts. We cannot accept that anymore. Arasi Hnuoi/Inruk must also be accepted as a valid marriage as it is our custom,” says Mr. Thanglien (Hmarkhawlien, name changed).