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NEWS - Two Pastors arrested in Than



Subject: NEWS - Two Pastors arrested in Thantlang, Chin State 

Two Pastors arrested in Thantlang, Chin State 

Chin Human Rights Organization CHRO received the following report on
20th September 1999 from
reliable source.On 26 June, 1999, a soldier of the 266 Light Infantry
Battalion led by2nd Lieutenant
Myo Kyaw, deserted his unit, near Tlangpi village. Thevillagers of
Tlangpi and of Farrawn, which is
one of its neighboring villages,were in no way responsible for his
defection, but the chairmen of
thesevillages and other neighboring villages were arrested, taken to
Hakha, and severely tortured, for
it. 

The chairman of Tlangpi village was given a twelveyear sentence with
rigorous imprisonment and the
others also two to threeyear sentences, with rigorous imprisonmentAll
the chairmen of the villages in
Zahnak Tlang area of the Thantlng Township, Chin State viz. of Lungler,
Bungkhua, Dawn, Ralpel,
Saikah, Fungkah, Thangzang, Sihhmuh, Ruabuk, Ruakhua, have also been
arrestedby the same
Battalion.Also all the chairmen of the "yatkwets" ( block ) in Thantlang
Town,viz Pu No Lal Ling of
School "Yatkwet", Pu Van Hnun of Market "Yatkwet", andPu Ceu Hnin of
TABC "Yatkwet", have been
arrested and tortured, and one ofthem, viz Pu Ceu Hnin of TABC "Yatkwet"
was so severely tortured
that all hisfront teeth were knocked out. A good civilian in Thantlang
town, by thename of Al Bik, was
also arrested, taken to the Camp of the MilitaryIntelligence at Rung
Tlang in Hakha, and has been kept
in isolation, allowing nobody to see him.All these arrests were
allegedly made on the flimsy evidence
that theywere in sympathy with the Chin National Front CNF. 

When all these arrests and atrocities were taking place, the
seniorpastor of the Thantlang Baptist
Church, the Rev. Biak Kam, who is over 60years of age, and the General
Secretary of the Thantlang
Association of Baptist Churches, the Rev. Thawng Kam, called a meeting
as to how to negotiate with
the military authorities in charge of the area and to make a requestfor
their release. But before they
could meet with the military authority,the military authority have them
also arrested at night on
September 7,1999, accusing them of calling a meeting without their
knowledge orpermission. They
were sent away hastily and secretly by night the same night, onfoot,30
miles away, to the Military Out
Post in Lungler village. They have beenkept there. Nothing has been
heard about them, as no one
was allowed to seethem; hopefully they were not tortured. These two
Baptist pastors were
almostarrested once at the time of the problem which arose out of
mattersrelated to erecting a cross on
a hill west of Thantlang in January 1999 and itcould very well be that
they were secretly observed and
shadowed. 

Thantlang Baptist Church is the biggest church in Thantlang Townshipwith
a membership of over 1500
and Thantlang Association of Baptist Churches(TABC) is a fullfledge
association, with a membership
of 44 village churches,under the Zomi Baptist Convention, which in turn
is a fullfledge conventionunder
the Myanmar Baptist Convention, which is a national convention of allthe
Baptist Churches in
Burma.There is a great fear that all of them would be tortured and
theirlives be in danger of death. All
the men in Thantlang town have evacuated forfear of being arrested by
the military.