The transportation minister says he aims for the airport to be ready by 2020. Fifty percent of the construction of Chin State’s first airport has been finished, the state’s transportation minister has announced. The airport will be located on Surbung Mountain in Falam Township. “When our government officials discussed with the in-charge of the construction, they said 50 percent of the construction was already complete,” Minister Sui Thiau told Khonumthung News. He said that a concrete road and a 1,000-foot blacktop road must still be built, as well as a runway 6,000 feet long and 100 feet wide. It is…
Author: Editor
Govt troops took the land in Chin State more than 20 years ago and have since abandoned it. Forty acres of land seized by the Burma Army more than 20 years ago in Chin State’s Tedim Township will be returned to its original owners, a local government committee has announced. The Township Agriculture and Other Abandoned Lands Inspection Committee reported that the Tatmadaw’s Infantry Battalion 269 had taken the land, located in Sakaw Lam ward, in 1996 but has since abandoned it. On Saturday, the committee said that if the original owners can show documentation proving their ownership of the…
‘If we don’t get what we want, we will continue our movement,’ says the Chin Refugee Committee chairperson. The Chin Refugee Committee (CRC) has postponed a scheduled demonstration against the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in New Delhi, India, because the committee’s members have been invited to attend a meeting with the UN refugee agency. The protest was supposed to take place on Monday, according to Ms. Remmawi, chairperson for the CRC. It was organized in order for the Chin community to take a stand against a UN decision in Junethat people from Chin State, Burma, would no longer…
The two men have now been in prison for more than two months after being granted fake passports. Two Chin men who returned to Burma from Malaysia following a UN decision to no longer grant refugee status to the community have now been in prison for more than two months—and legal experts say more such cases are likely to follow. Salai Van Ceu Thawng, 28, from Chin State’s Haka, and Mai Om Hlu from Mindat, were arrested upon arrival at Yangon International Airport on June 10 for lacking proper documentation. They are still in detention in Insein Prison, Salai Van…
The incident reportedly followed the destruction of another pastor’s house in a village in Ann Township. A Christian pastor was reportedly beaten unconscious in Rakhine State’s Ann Township on Sunday and is now in hospital, according to his colleague. Pastor U Tin Swe works with the Thadin Kaung Church in Hin Ywet village—the same community in which he was allegedly attacked—more than 20 miles from Ann town. He is a field leader within the Thukha Myanmar Mission, a church group which describes itself as providing outreach to orphans, and those suffering from drug addiction, poverty, and illness. Mar Mar Win,…
Chin State Chief Minister Salai Lian Luai participated in the opening of an India-Burma border crossing on 9 August, allowing visitors to officially use the India-Myanmar Friendship Bridge No. 2 between Chin and Mizoram states. The ceremony was held on the Indian side of the border, in Zokhawthar village, Champhai District, Mizoram State. It was part of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries known as the Agreement on Land Border Crossing With Myanmar. In Zokhawthar, the Chin State Minister was met by Mizoram State’s commerce and industries minister H. Rohluna, who opened the crossing jointly and walked the…
The sea, river, and land initiative is supposed to link Chin State with Mizoram, but land and labor issues continue to surface. By KHONUMTHUNG NEWS Friday, August 3, 2018 Construction of a road linking Loung Talai Township in India’s Mizoram State and Paletwa Township in Chin State, Burma, has been postponed due to a lack of laborers. The road involves one of eight bridges that have been proposed as part of the initiative, which is being carried out within Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project. The project is supposed to connect India with Rakhine State by sea, and then the Rakhine…
A factory to dry yams for export is to be built in Chin State in 2019, according to Myanmar’s deputy minister of commerce U Aung Htoo. The deputy minister made the announcement last week following an inquiry in the ninth Union Parliament session by Chin State lawmaker Daw Khin Swe Lwin about plans for such a venture. There is an existing processing plant for yams—a food locally called “wa-ou”—in Chin State’s Kanpetlet Township that began operations under the Victory Gardens Company this year. It cleans, dices and dries the yams. A lack of electricity in the area means that the…
An investigation team looked into complaints that the border post demarcating Mizoram and Myanmar had been moved. An investigation team formed by the Indian government has confirmed that the placement of Border Post No. 81 remains correct, after a dispute over the issue. The investigation team spoke out earlier this week after looking into claims that the post—between Myanmar and India’s Manipur—was no longer in the place agreed upon by both countries. Made up of officials from the Indian interior and foreign ministries and the land department, the team toured the disputed area on July 28. Mizoram newspaper Vanlaini reported…
The event was attended by political party leaders, youth, and members of civil society organizations. By KHONUMTHUNG NEWS Around 500 participants attended the Chin Unity Forum hosted in Kalay, Sagaing Division, on 27 July, the first of its kind to be held in the town. The event’s objective—attended by multiple Chin organizations—was to increase solidarity among the many Chin sub-groups, Mr. Rochulloa, the forum’s preparation committee secretary, explained. “The aim of this form is to have more unity among different Chin tribes and to create a milestone for a new generation of Chin youth,” he told Khonumthung News. Pu Lalduhawma,…