Military authorities ease off rigorous checking
No more rigorous inspections of local people and businessmen will be conducted by the official Township level immigration office and Police at the checkpoint crossing in Haka Township which is the capital city of Chin State, or at the Thang Tlang Township checkpoint, said a businessman from Thang Tlang who had been in Mizoram on business.
The conflict between Thang Tlang police and university students from Thang Tlang Township who attend various Universities of Myanmar, was sparked on April 11, 2004, when a university student from Thang Tlang visited Haka town by motorcycle to see his friends. He was stopped by the police and his motorcycle was confiscated. After that, university students made demands for Major General Tin Hla, Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council of Chin State to close down all of the check points.
Major General Tin Hla himself apologized to the students for the police transgression, and issued a degree to decrease the strict inspections at the checkpoints in July 2004.
“Recently, there has been no more checking at the checkpoints. Major General Tin Hla has promised the local people that they would arrange a program to make national identity cards free of charge for those who do not have one. The only cost would be for passport photos. Beforehand, officers from the Immigration office in Thang Tlang Township charged 5,000 Kyat per person for registration,” explained a local from the town. Previously, those who did not have a national identity card could not pass easily through the checkpoints while going from one village to another in that region.
Sun 22 Aug 2004
Aizawl, Khonumthung News Group:
