Delhi Chin refugees observed Chin National Day

21 February 2013, New Delhi – Chin refugees in New Delhi observed the 65th Chin National Day at a hall in Chander Nagar in the Indian capital yesterday. 

Convened by Chin Students’ Union, the event attracted around 1,000 people, with special guests including Mrs Shri Ashish Sood, wife of the General Secretary of Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party, and Dr. Tint Swe, ex-MP of NLD, as well as other Chin leaders.

The first part of the program where key speakers gave speeches was followed by a session of performances such as folk dances and cultural dress shows by Chin refugee children.

Speaking on behalf of her husband, Mrs Shri Ashish Sood said she understood the difficulties facing the Chin refugees as she expressed her willingness to provide assistance to her best.

Dr. Tint Swe said he would like to see an ‘internal reconciliation’ among different tribes of the Chin to fulfill the common goal while Dr. Run Bik, Principal of Prospect Burma School, urged the young generation to focus on education for the betterment of the Chin in future.

Pu Van Thio Cin, a former lawyer and political prisoner who served a two-year sentence for his political involvement in Burma, spoke on the occasion encouraging the Chin to make a better future.

A statement by the Chin Students’ Union noted it was a commemoration of the day the Chin national spirit was born as it expressed joy over a ‘free’ celebration of the Chin National Day inside Burma for the first time in decades.

“It is the responsibility of all the Chin people to maintain and celebrate this history day. This celebration is not just a celebration but an act of political defiance.”

India’s New Delhi is home to more than an estimated 10,000 Chin refugees and asylum seekers from Burma.

Reporting by A Hmun