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How Mizo Rebels Hoodwinked Indian and Pakistani Intelligence Agencies

In his autobiography, Zoramthanga details how MNF rebels procured multiple Pakistani passports and how they escaped from a safehouse in New Delhi

MNF leaders arriving at an outpost of the Indian Army at the trijunction of India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, called Parva.

From the archives of insurgent outfits in India’s northeastern region has emerged an autobiography of Zoramthanga, which provides fascinating insights into how erstwhile Mizo separatist rebels hoodwinked Indian and Pakistani intelligence agencies on many occasions and under different circumstances.

The rebels belonged to the Mizo National Front (MNF), which had launched an armed rebellion demanding Mizoram’s independence from India in 1966. Mizoram was then a district of Assam, similar to the other hill states in the region.

Zoramthanga, who was second-in-command to Laldenga, the legendary chief of the secessionist Mizo National Front, subsequently became president of the MNF party, and then went on to become Mizoram’s chief minister between 2018 and 2023. In his autobiography, “From Guerrilla Fighter to Chief Minister” (Penguin Random House, 2026), Zoramthanga recounted that from the very outset of the Mizo movement, the MNF leadership was certain that the campaign for Mizoram’s independence would not succeed without the support of foreign governments.

The MNF approached Pakistan and China for assistance owing to their adversarial relationship with India and proximity to the Northeast. At the time, Bangladesh was under Pakistan’s rule and had not yet been liberated.

The MNF’s tryst with Pakistan began in 1963 when a three-member delegation led by Laldenga crossed over to East Pakistan’s Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), which was contiguous to Mizoram.  A series of meetings with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) — Pakistan’s external intelligence agency — resulted in the supply of several consignments of weapons and establishment of training camps for the MNF in East Pakistan.

The scenario changed after the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, which culminated in the emergence of Bangladesh as an independent country.

The MNF was compelled to shift its bases out of Bangladesh to Arakan in Myanmar with the assistance of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB). Subsequently, MNF leaders led by Laldenga managed to slip out of Myanmar to Pakistan on a chartered flight sponsored by the Pakistan government for refugees from East Pakistan.

The rebel leaders successfully disguised themselves as members of the Bawm community from CHT, who were fleeing for fear of persecution by the new government in Bangladesh.  They were apprehensive of being identified by the Myanmar government authorities, which could have landed them in jail or even a death sentence. The Myanmar government knew about the MNF’s presence in Arakan and their participation in battles against the Myanmar army as an ally of the CPB.

Travelling With Multiple Pakistani Passports

Within a few days of being provided safehouses by the ISI in Pakistan’s Rawalpindi, the Mizo leaders began to explore the possibility of contacting the Indian government to kick-start talks. They attempted to enter India from Firozepur in Pakistan but failed as they could not locate the correct route. The failure prompted them to embark upon a clandestine journey to Kabul to contact the Indian embassy there. That operation had to be accomplished in absolute stealth without the ISI’s knowledge.

Soon, they obtained Pakistani passports with the help of touts in Rawalpindi. A decision was taken to travel to Kabul via Peshawar to avoid detection. However, owing to Pakistan’s low foreign currency reserves, a citizen who traveled abroad was permitted only $500 every two years.

“That meant we had to have new passports every time we went abroad. I had several of them, with different........

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