A new highway from Tedim to Rih, on the Indian border in northern Chin State, will be built next year with financial assistance from the Indian government. Because it won’t be as steep, Soe Htet, spokesperson for the Chin State government, told Khonumthung News that the 62 miles long two-lane tar road will be twice as long as the old road it is replacing. New bridges will also be constructed. With over 400 million people living in the seven states in north-eastern India, “it’s a big market,” he said. The benefits of increased trade from the new road “are good…
Author: Editor
Five people, who recently returned to Paletwa from Rakhine State tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total cases detected in the town in southern Chin State to fourteen. General administration development (GAD) officer for Paletwa Township Aung Law Har said the new cases were discovered during their quarantine. They were sent to Paletwa Public Hospital and placed in isolation. Ten people are recovering from the virus after four were discharged from the hospital. Aung Law Har said everyone’s health is fine. Due to an increase in infections in Paletwa, all returnees must undergo mandatory quarantine upon arrival in the town.…
Two complaints have been filed with village election commissions in Chin State’s Tedim and Thantlang townships regarding voting practices in Burma’s November 8 general election. Political parties have reported that people in these townships cast proxy votes on behalf of other people. “The two cases were reported on election day. The cases are concerning the police,” Lin Kyaw, secretary of the Chin State Election Commission, told Khonumthung News. “We have only two cases where somebody cast a ballot at the polling station on behalf of another person.” Lin Kyaw speculated that the problem might be rooted in a lack of…
The first shipment of 5,000 clothing items and blankets from the Relief and Rehabilitation Committee for Chin IDPs (RRCCI) arrived in southern Chin State’s Paletwa town on Monday. Most of the clothing in this batch was secondhand and collected from donors, according to Mai Nang Wai, who is working with RRCCI, but the next batch is new clothing. “We already sent the second batch of assistance yesterday. These are new clothes. We will send new clothes again. We bought new clothes directly from the garment factory. That’s why we had to wait a little while,” Mai Nang Wai told Khonumthung…
The Chin State government has banned restaurants from opening as COVID-19 continues to be on the rise in the region. Burma’s central COVID-19 Control and Emergency Response Committee announced that on December 4, some restaurants and tea shops would be allowed to re-open if they were located in areas that did not have stay-at-home orders. However, Chin State will not be re-opening such businesses anytime soon. “We do not have any plans to allow it, because the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased in our area including in Hakha, Mindat, Kanpetlet, Matupi, Paletwa and Tedim,” Chin State government spokesperson…
Amid the corona crisis, which causes about 500,000 confirmed cases and 8,000 deaths a day worldwide, a Korean-based religious organization called Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (hereinafter referred to as Shincheonji Church) hosted an online prayer meeting, “3rd Global Prayer Service of Religious People” on November 15th. Broadcast live on the official YouTube channel of Shincheonji Church, the prayer meeting was organized to pray for not only the patients and their families in sufferings but also the government, medical staff, and volunteers fighting to overcome COVID-19. Along with 200,000 domestic and foreign members…
Rumors spread on social media accused a 50-year-old police corporal at the Paletwa Police Station of raping a woman in a detention room. Win Lwin, police chief for the station in southern Chin State, denied the accusations. “There’s no internet service in Paletwa Township, yet rumors have been spreading on Facebook.” He said a man in custody who suffers from mental depression and is an alcoholic spread the rumors after claiming to witness the alleged rape on November 28. No evidence of rape was found after the alleged victim was sent to the hospital, Win Lwin said while elaborating that…
A copy of a letter allegedly signed by the chair of the National League for Democracy (NLD) for Thangtlang Township, involving corruption during the recent general election, has spread on social media. The letter allegedly listed six companies and their owners who supported the politician in return for business concessions in the education department after he was elected to office in the township. Zo Bwi, NLD chair for Chin State, told Khonumthung News the NLD disciplinary committee investigated the matter and sent its findings to the party’s headquarters. Although he didn’t know the results of the investigation, Zo Bwi was…
Family members of Salai Aung Soe are increasingly anxious after the four-month period has passed since he was abducted by the Arakan Army (AA). Despite multiple calls for his release from the community and the Khumi Affairs Coordination Committee (KACC), the ethnic armed organization (EAO) has refused to release him. Salai Aung Soe was taken captive by AA on July 29 along with three other Chin. The youth, who were traveling to Paletwa town, were taken near Nga Tha Rai village in Kyauktaw Township. The others were eventually released, but Salai Aung Soe was not. AA is embroiled in a…
Three new confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported in Paletwa Township, southern Chin State this weekend, bringing the area’s total number of patients to eight. Dr. Soe Thet Win, of the township’s health department, told Khonumthung News that the three newest patients had returned from travel to Kyauktaw Township in Rakhine State and were tested on November 29 after three days in quarantine. It was found that they had contact with another COVID-19 patient on November 26. “Four previously confirmed patients have already been discharged from hospital [on Sunday]. Therefore, only four confirmed cases are receiving medical treatment in the…