Chin peace group reviews govt-CNF agreement implemention

08 May 2015 — The Chin Peace and Tranquility Committee held a meeting with the Chin State government and the Chin National Front to re-examine if both parties were abiding by their agreements.

Citing a collection of incidents that were seen as violating the agreements, the CPTC, a ceasefire monitoring group, told the two parties that they had not acted according to what had been agreed.

The CPTC’s report, documented between 2013 and 2015, revealed that the State government had violated the agreement ten times and the CNF on four occasions.

It included the CNF holding public consultations outside Chin State in Kalay and Tamu towns, Sagaing Region, and talking about politics to Chin university students.

And the committee also highlighted that Burma Army Light Infantry Battalions No. 266, No. 274 and No. 344 had entered areas occupied by the CNF on several occasions without their knowledge, extorted money from locals and committed rapes.

Representatives of the State government told the CPTC that it was not their job to document rapes but the Chin State police force’s although the two parties welcomed the meeting admitting their mistakes.

It was the first time the CPTC had organized such a meeting since the signing of the ceasefire agreements between the CNF and both the State and Union governments in 2012.

The meeting held on 28 April in Hakha was attended by a six-member delegation led by Minister Colonel Zaw Min Oo, minister of Security and Border Affairs, seven CNF members led by Khua Uk Lian, two observers and three CPTC members, according to the Chinland Post.#