Chin Human Rights Organization; Aug

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Subject: Chin Human Rights Organization; August 99



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Rhododendron News Bulletin
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Chin Human Rights Organization
50 Bell St. N # 2 Ottawa, ON K1R 7C7, Canada
tel/fax 613 234 2485 Email: chokhlei@xxxxxxxxxxx
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Volume II No. 6  August 1999
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		100 Civilian men detained in the Church

	On 26 June 1999 a Burmese soldier disappeared from a patrolling army unit 
enroute to Tlangpi village from Lung Ding village of Thantlang Township, 
Chin State.
	The disappeared soldier was among the 34 soldiers from Light Infantry 
Battalion 266 led by 2nd Lieutenant Kyaw Soe, based at Lungler army camp 
located north of Thantlang town near the Indian border.The soldier who was 
extremely exhausted due to hunger was left behind half way during the 
patrolling.
	Upon noticing the disappearance on arrival at the destination village, the 
commander 2nd Lt. Kyaw Soe ordered a section of army to search for the lost 
soldier overnight. However, instead of searching for the soldier, the 
assigned soldiers met on the way with smugglers who herded cattle to be sold 
in Mizoram State of India and extorted Kyats 50000 from them.
	On the next day the commander with his soldiers vainly headed for Farrawn 
village to find the soldier. They returned to Tlangpi and ordered the 
villagers to find the soldier. However, the attempt too proved to be futile. 
They returned to Lungler camp to report the matter to Captain Phyu Win, 266 
Second Battalion Commander & temporary camp Commander who just arrived to 
the camp ahead of him.
	Under the Command of Captain Phyu Win the soldiers again immediately went 
back to Tlangpi village.On 1 July 1999, the Captain forcibly ordered a total 
of more than 100 villagers, 40 villagers each from Lung Ding and Tlangpi 
villages, members of Village PDC of Tahtlang village and another 15 
villagers from the same village to search for the lost soldier.
	Some villagers who were afraid of being forced to find the soldier had to 
go on hiding in the farm. Worried that those already taken to search the 
soldier will escape, the soldier kept them in a Church in Tlangpi and 
strictly guarded them outside.
	The arrested villagers had to sleep without blankets and had to be fed by 
Tlangpi  villagers. Despair of the search, the Captain finally ordered his 
inferiors to arrest every male in the village indiscriminately at midnight 
to clear trees and bushes around the cart way linking 
Lungding-Tlangpi-Farrawn. The villagers however dared not defy the order.
	The lost soldier is still yet to be found and the villagers are facing 
immense difficulty as the incident coincided with the cultivation season by 
which they make their living. This forced labors by the army  had badly 
affected the farm work of the villagers and they(villagers) are likely to 
face a new wave of crop shortage within the next years. The 100 arrested 
villagers are still in the army detention.


Land Confiscation

	According to CHRO field monitor, 6000 acres cultivatable land in Chin 
State, managed by Haikhawl village (Haikhawl is a Chin Village  in Sagaing 
Division and the land is inside Chin State) was confiscated by the Burmese 
military in 1997. And now the villagers are paying a very high price Kyats 
50,000/-  per house   hold  to get back their land. There are more than 200 
house hold in Haikhawl village.
	In 1992- 93, the  then SLORC was logging in the junction of Chin State and 
Sagaing Division. Thus all the teak( forest ) reserves in  the area were 
cleared, mostly inside Chin State. After the forest was cleared cut, the 
authority tried to re-plant trees in the area. However the plan was not 
successful due to corruption,  and after making efforts for two three times 
they gave up the plan. So, the land was lying in vain.
	Since the land have fertile soil and was lying in vain, the villagers asked 
permission from the authority to make  the virgin land into cultivation 
land. They got permission from the authority. In this way the villagers 
turned 6000 acres of virgin land  into cultivation land. When the  
transformation of the cleared land to cultivatable land was in progress, the 
Burmese  military Battalion 228 based in Kalay Myo confiscated all the land 
in 1997 in the name of Land Reform Acts and made it their own. The military 
tried to cultivate by using convicts labourers and soldiers. But they were 
not successful due to malaria epidemic and many other hardship. Thus, the 
military had to give up the land for the second time.
	The villagers were reluctant to see a vast expanse of land with fertile 
soil lying  in vain. So that they approached the SPDC officer whether there 
is any possible way to get back the land which they had invested much of 
their labours. The officer replied them that if they could pay Kyats 50,000 
/- per house hold, he will approach the case to the higher authority. Thus 
the villagers collected Kyats 50,000/- per house hold and gave it to Falam 
District Peace and Development Council chairman. There are more than 200 
house holds in Haikhawl village which is about10 miles from Kaley Myo.


Collecting cane sticks from villagers for army


Name			: Ngo Sa
Age			: 45
Gender			: Male
Religion		: Christian
Occupation		: Farmer / vallage in charge of Tlaupi 				  village
Family members		: 8 members(6 children, husband 					  		  and wife)


	Major Hla Ko Oo from LIB 740 ( Myaut Oo battalion ) of Arakan State was 
appointed as the company commander of Shinletwa army camp in Paletwa 
township, Chin State. He called  the  villages in the area to attend the 
meeting every month. In Shinletwa area there are 9 village tracts: Para 
tract, Shewlake, Ponemoo, Gonepyine, Shiao, Patheinplan, Maobin, Sineowa and 
Shinletwa.
	In January of 1999 Major  Hla Ko Oo, camp commander, summoned villages' 
Chairmen and Secretaries of the 9 village tracts for a meeting. He ordered 
to bring 1,500 cane sticks from each village tract to the army camp in 
February. The total number of 13,500 cane sticks had  to be sent by the 9 
village tracts.
	The canes were carried through riverine route to Akyap and sold them at 50 
Kyats per cane.They were not paid for their labors at all.They just did it 
for the army's profit. The  forest where the cane plants are available is 
very far away from the village, and therefore they were not able to get 
them. Since the villagers are very poor, they  had to sell their domestic 
animals and even rice which they kept for themselves  to pay the army 
because they were not able to provide the canes which the army demanded. 
"That's why  I paid Kyats10,000 which I collected from the villagers for 500 
cane at the rate of Kyat 20 per cane to company commander on 22 March 1999" 
said Mr. Ngo Sa, the incharge of Tlaupi village . The consequence of such 
kind of inhuman treatment by the army, the villagers now have faced shortage 
of food for the year to come 		In the end part of March 1999, Major Hla Ko 
Oo was transfered and Capt. Than Naing Oo from LIB 233  Bothitaung Battalion 
replaced him as company commander. Capt. Than Naing Oo followed the 
footsteps of the previous commander. He summoned for a meeting every month. 
"He ordered us to give Kyats 4,000 instead of 200 canes. So I went to the 
army camp and paid it. A total which I paid was Kyats 14,000" said Mr. Ngo 
Sa.


Village Life in Rural Chinland

The following interview is conducted in Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh 
by a human rights monitor from Images Asia in February 1999
Name		: Ral Lian ( not his real name)
Sex		: Male
Age		: 64
Ethnicity	: Chin
Relegion	: Christian
Occupation		: slash-and-burn farmer
From		: Tahai village, then Rkhan village, Paletwa township
Marital status	: widow and remarried, 1 child from first 						marriage
Interview date	: 7.2.1999


Q : When did you arrive in Bangladesh?
A : On 10.1.1998. We could not bear the Burmese Army. They always make 
troubles to us. We always had to go for forced labour. They always ordered 
us to give money, food, animals, whatever we had. And we always had to go as 
porters all the time.

Q : Is your village near an army camp?
A : Shinletwa camp is about 6 miles away. The soldiers often came to our 
village. At least once a week, sometimes even twice or three times.

Q : Have they ever arrested or beaten anyone?
A : No.

Q : What forced labour did you have to do?
A : Portering and working in their camp. Wherever they went, we had to go 
along with them. We also had to work at the Shinletwa camp. If we could not 
go, we had to pay a fine of 300 Kyats.

Q : Have you been a porter yourself?
A : Yes, of course. But because of my bad health, I didn't have to carry any 
heavy load but I was always sent as a messenger to carry letters from the 
army to other villages, and to bring messages to people.

Q : What about your wife?
A : In our village, the women, do not have to work in the army camp.

Q : How do they collect people for portering?
A : First they sent an order to the village headman. If we do not go, they 
come themselves to collect us. When they demanded one person per family, we 
usually provided them with less people. There were 40 families in our 
village, so we provided 30 porters, and the other 10 people stayed at home. 
We could not send every family every time! But those who did not go had to 
pay for that.

Q : How long were the portering duties?
A : Generally for 3 or 4 days. When they called us to work at their camp, 
they ordered us to build one house. If our villagers could complete the 
house within one day, then they could go home.


Q : How often were the people called?
A : I cannot count how many times we had to go. If needed, we had to go 
twice a week. If they get information that some opposition groups are 
operating into the border area, then we must go along with them as far as 
the Bangladesh or the India border. It is difficult to say how often. It 
really depends.

Q : Were you often called as a messenger?
A : Yes, all the time. I had to go twice or 3 times a week to the army camp. 
Back and forth between the camp and our village.

Q : When did these problems start?
A : Since 1988.

Q : What did the Burmese Army do in your village?
A : They demanded us chickens, pigs. We have to give them according to their 
demand. They usually requested a fixed amount. We had to provide them with 6 
kg of meat per month. If we could not provide 6kg of chicken, then we had to 
give them pork meat. And if we couldn't, they even demanded cattle meat. 
They never paid for that. But we had to pay money as labour fees when we 
could not go to work for them.

Q : Do the opposition groups also collect taxes?
A : Yes, of course. AA, the Khumi party and CNF were all collecting money in 
our village. A demanded 300 Kyats per year and per family. CNF, 100 or 200 
Kyats, according to the situation. If we requested them to reduce the 
amount, they would agree. But the Khumi party always collected money at 
random. We cannot say per week, per month or per year. Every time they came 
to our village, they demanded money.

Q : Is it the combination of all these extortions that is so hard for you?
A : In Tahai, our old village in upper Paletwa, every time the opposition 
collected money, the Burmese Army came and fought with them. In 1996, we 
left Tahai because of all these problems. We walked for 3 days and moved to 
Ra Khan [near the border], at least there was no fighting. There was a 
little more security because the CNF soldiers protected us.

Q : So, where did you have to do the portering and camp labour?
A : The labour situation was the same in both places. The taxcollections 
were more in Tahai. The situation in Tahai was very serious. Tahai is empty 
now. We fled to Rakhan and other people went to stay in Anu Tlang.

Q : Did the army order to move?
A : No. The army did not order, but we were afraid and we left.

Q : What happened to Rakhan now?
A : Some people are remaining there. I fled again because the soldiers 
always ordered me to be messenger and my health is not good. I could not 
walk all the time. That is why we came here.

Q : Tell me about Tahai. Did you have a school and a clinic there?
A : There were 25 houses, including Chin and Khumi. We had a school up to 
4th Standard [Primary school]. It was a self-supported school, not a 
government school. There was no clinic. In Tahai, if someone was sick, we 
had to go to Turuai, 14 miles away, or about 6 hours' walk. In Rakhan we had 
to go to Shinletwa, 6 miles away.

Q : Could you carry some of your belongings?
His Wife : No, only one basket that I carried alone. [Ral Lian can hardly 
walk and is unable to work. His wife is supporting the couple by doing day 
labour]. The few things you see in our house have been given to us. We 
didn't even have a tool to work in the field. I have nothing else to say. 
You can see by yourself!


The Plight of Burma's Women Refugees in India
( Source: Rangoon Post )


	Thousands of refugees from western and north-western Burma still remain in 
terribly poor conditions through-out the Chittagong Hills and in India. Many 
women are finding jobs as live-in maids, nanies etc.  These jobs have no 
only found them income, but also beatings, rapes, and hundreds of un-wanted 
pregnancies.
	Many can not report the rapes and beatings fearing both that they will 
loose their job, but many are illegal and would likely be deportedback to 
Burma where they could be put into slave labor, robbed or raped by the 
military SPDC forces.
	What do these people do?  Who will help them.  For now, no one can help ... 
or will help in India.

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opinion letters to our homepage. Our homepage URL is:
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