Funds for the construction of two statues of the late Gen Aung San will not come from Burma’s national budget, according to Chin State’s Minister of Development Affairs, Electricity and Industry. The copper statues of the Burmese independence icon, which will be located in Hakha and Htantlang townships in Chin State, will be paid for by private donors. “We will not use the national budget for it—we will only spend money from public and private donations,” Minister U Soe Htet told Khonumthung News, adding that one donor has already committed 30,000,000 kyats (US$19,650) to the project. Locals in Htantlang have…
Author: Editor
All Chin veterans of World War II who served in the British army will be provided financial assistance from a UK-based non-profit in recognition of their service. The annual grants, which are 200,000 kyats (US$125), will be given to both former soldiers or their widows starting in November. The program is run by the charity Help for Forgotten Allies (H4FA), which recognizes the contributions of ethnic minorities in Burma to the British fight against the Japanese in the country from 1942-1945. The Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) has worked with H4FA to provide assistance to around 100 Chin veterans specifically…
A 28-year-old woman was killed after stepping on a landmine while searching for yams in southern Chin State’s Paletwa Township last week. Hpyit Lite was from Nga Tein village in the upper part of Paletwa’s Pee Chaung area. She is survived by a five-year-old daughter. According to Peter Lwi Lu, editor of the local Khumi Media Group, Hpyit Lite traveled with five of her friends last Thursday to the base of the Khayu mountain, 30 minutes from her village, to look for yams. She was pronounced dead after stepping on a landmine. It remains unknown which armed group planted the…
Five Arakanese men were arrested in Chin State’s Tedim Township near the Indian border on Saturday, accused of violating immigration law and suspected of having ties to the Arakan Army (AA). Col Han Win Aung, Chin State’s security and border affairs minister, confirmed the arrests to Khonumthung News but would not share further details because of an ongoing investigation to determine whether the men are members of the AA. “It’s true they are under arrest. They have Indian ID cards. They got Indian citizenship. It’s possible they will be charged with immigration act,” he said, adding that the men’s Burmese…
Locals have complained that a new sports stadium in Chin State’s Tedim Township is unsafe and too costly, according to local officials. The Myoma Stadium is located in Khai Kam town and the construction of the venue was recently completed by Meeba Metta Company. Lian Dal, the administrator of Kham Kam’s first quarter, described his visit to the stadium, which occurred after the project had finished, upon the company’s instructions. He had no access to the design plans in advance, he said “When we went to see the sports grounds, the concrete boundary was built four feet away from the…
The bus station on the Chin State-Mizoram border is set to open at the end of September. Rihkhawdar town will open a new bus station on September 29 with the aim to reduce traffic in the border town and to serve as a transportation hub for the rest of Chin State’s Falam District. According to Lalpeklawma, deputy head of Rihkhawdar’s information and public relations department, the land for the station—just over one acre—was donated by local man Mawite, since there was no budget to purchase it. The township’s municipal council allocated the construction of the project to the Khau Te…
‘We must take serious action against the rapists,’ said the state’s Minister of Social Affairs. Four incidents involving the rape of child have been reported in Chin State so far this year, according to the state’s Minister of Social Affairs Pau Lun Min Thang, who wants the government to take such cases seriously. “I didn’t hear anything about child rape cases in Chin State in the past. [Now] there have been four child rape cases that have happened within five to six months,” he told Khonumthung News. “We are so worried about it. Why does it happen? In my opinion,…
‘The major challenge is the package deal linking national equality, self-determination, basic principles of federalism, non-secession, and the presence of only one army,’ Pu Zing Cung said. Three years after the Chin National Front’s (CNF) signing of Burma’s Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), significant obstacles remain in implementing the accord, its chairperson said. NCA signatory ethnic armed groups held a summit in Chiang Mai, Thailand, from September 8-11 to discuss future strategic action and to identify common ground. CNF chair Pu Zing Cung served as the chairperson of the meeting on the second day of the summit. “We have faced many…
After meeting Chin representatives in New Delhi, two UNHCR delegates will go to Chin State to learn more about the current conditions there. After meeting representatives of the Chin community in New Delhi, India, a delegation from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has agreed to visit Chin State to learn more about the current conditions in the region. On Friday, the UNHCR Chief of Mission in India met with six leadersfrom the Chin Refugee Committee (CRC). The Chin group was among those that protested a UN decision in June to no longer grant refugee status or resettlement…
Members of the Government Technological Institute’s student union oppose plans to build court headquarters on the college’s land. Members of the student union at the Government Technological Institute (GTI) in Hakha, Chin State have opposed plans by the state government to build court headquarters on the college’s land. The student union released a statement on Monday condemning the move, which would see a large “modern” court constructed in front of the GTI building. The students pointed out that there were many other available locations for the project elsewhere in the Chin State capital and that they do not want construction…