Mr. Liancinthang and eight of his friends from Tungzan, Tidim township were stopped by the Bukphir based military personnel when they were taking 19 bulls to Mizoram state from Kalemyo in Tidim township. The troops demanded Kyat 19 lakhs from the traders.

They were told by the soldiers that if they are unable to pay the money demanded their bulls would be confiscated. The traders borrowed some money from neighbouring villages and gave Kyat 5 lakhs. But the troops held back nine of the 19 bulls.

“We gave them Kyat 5 lakhs for 10 bulls, but they held back nine bulls. We have to pay a total of Kyat 19 lakhs, or else we will not get back the rest of the bulls,” said one of the bull owners.

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By Hannah Beech / Bangkok
Friday, Jan. 30, 2009

Living under the thumb of a brutal junta, the average Burmese hardly leads an easy life. But the plight of the country’s ethnic minorities, many of whom once waged long and bloody insurgencies against the military regime, is even worse. As a new human-rights report released on Jan. 28, as well as the recent stories of destitute refugees who fled Burma attest to, members of Burma’s ethnic groups face persistent discrimination by the military regime. They are the targets of unpaid forced labor campaigns, scorched-earth policies that destroy farmland and relocation programs that require entire villages to move at a moment’s notice.

Called Myanmar by its military leaders, Burma derives its name from the Buddhist Burman (or Bamar) people. The country’s largest ethnic group, the Burman historically lived in Burma’s central and upper plains. But this patchwork country of 55 million is made up of more than 100 unique ethnicities. The isolation enforced by Burma’s numerous mountains and hills helped nurture these culturally discrete groups, making it one of the most diverse countries in Southeast Asia, despite its relatively small geographic size. Here are five ethnicities, some of who have unsuccessfully waged long insurgencies against the central government and others who have made news recently because of the abuses they have suffered at the hands of the Burman-dominated regime.

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According to a report, the plantation of poppies commenced from early June in Phai Sat, Ai Sit, Hai Cin, Mualpi and other villages, near the border of Tonzang Town and India’s Manipur State.

All the plantation costs were provided for by Chinese tycoons and all the security concerns were taken care of by Meitei insurgencies. In fact, they are planning to build a heroin factory in that area.

Regarding the matter, an official of the Zomi Revolutionary Army (ZRA) said, “It is true. Chinese business tycoons and Meitei insurgent groups are cultivating poppy in the Indo-Myanmar border areas, but it is not a huge plantation.”

Meanwhile, the Burmese military junta restricted the villagers of Tonzang sub-township Cikha Town, from going to the Indo-Burma border areas, where the poppies were planted.

Our villagers are afraid to go to the poppy plantation areas, which covers a lot of acres, so the Burmese Army has forbidden them from trespassing and has threatened them claiming that if a person disobeyed the order, he would be shot.

Although the exact acres of poppy plantation cannot be calculated, it might occupy at least 500 acres, a local person said.

Khonumthung News

http://www.khonumthung.com/chinese-tycoons-meitei-insurgents-cultivate-poppy-in-upper-chin-state/

The Burmese military authorities have forcibly taken away most of the relief material, meant for local Chin people, who had suffered due to a fire in their village last April. The relief material had been supplied by their supporters from abroad.

According to a report, the Aizawl-based Women’s League of Chin Land (WLC) had provided relief material to the villagers of Hmunpi Kawn of Tidim Town, Chin State in western Burma. These villagers had suffered damages due to a fire last April. However, the Burmese military authorities have grabbed half of the relief material meant for the villagers.

The WLC had collected some donations, including books, pencils, pens, peanuts, sugar and medicines from Aizawl-based Burmese organizations, and then they had given it to the villagers of Hmunpi Kawn, in the first week of June 2009.

However, military personnel from IB 269, based in Tidim have taken away half of the relief items, as they claimed that the relief materials were given by illegal organizations.

“When we reached the village, we met the village headman and gave all the relief materials, after that we returned to the border area. However, the military personnel heard about us and they went immediately to the village and took half of the relief material,” a woman, who went to the village and is a member of WLC said.

A local said, “It is very sad. The military personnel do not think of helping others, despite our village being reduced to rubble. Such an attitude will not be in evidence in other countries, I think. Not only that, they even tried to arrest those who had come to our village to give us the relief material.”

The SPDC government has no policy to help its countrymen and rarely accepts relief from other countries. In Chin state, the authorities have ordered the people not to accept any aid from outside the country, so some organizations abroad provide aid for famine-affected people and for victims of fire secretly.

The authorities have earlier also stolen many relief funds and materials meant for the victims of Cyclone Nargis from the Irrawaddy Delta areas in May 2008, with the help of the government controlled Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) and higher authorities.

Khonumthung News
http://www.khonumthung.com/junta-grabs-relief-meant-for-fire-victims/

Many Chin parents cannot afford to send their children to school so they admit them to the Children’s Orphanages in Chin state, western Burma.

The Director of Nazareth Children’s Orphanage Home said that there were more children in the home this year in Falam town.

“We give priority to orphans. Second come poor children from remote areas. We have admitted new children from 20 households this year. We have paid all their school fees and food expenses. They are attending government schools from here. We are sponsoring them to attend school,” he said.

The home is providing education, food and lodging for the children. It is a good shelter for poor students and children from remote areas. Most villagers therefore approach the home to educate their children.

There are two children’s orphanages – the Nazareth and Agape in Falam town. These support children with financial help from volunteer donors. They cannot accept too many children. Normally the average a year is 50 in Nazareth and 30 in the Agape home.

Nazareth home is now preparing to construct a new building for 100 children as the number of children is increasing every year.

“We spend Kyat 2 lakhs for 50 children per month in our home. School education is more expensive than their food as we have been providing all requirements from elementary school up to the collage level. Now we have five college going students in our home,” he added.

The Nazareth Children’s Home was established in 1995 and now it has about 55 children and 10 staff members in Falam town.

Khonumthung News – http://www.khonumthung.com/kng-news/09-news/chin-children-in-orphanages-increase/