Delhi, India: The Chin people, based in New Delhi, had an inspiring meeting with their prominent national figures including Professor Salai Tun Than, Pu Lian Uk (MP), Salai Kipp Kho Lian and Salai Bawi Lian Mang, who dropped by one day in New Delhi, on their way to Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram, India to attend Chin Historical Seminar to be held on October 13-15, 2008.
To mark the tenth anniversary of its inception, the Chin Forum published the first magazine which will be distributed at the Chin historical seminar to be held at Mizoram University in Aizawl, India next week.
[Chinland Guardian Note: In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the struggle for democracy in Burma and the birth of the new Chin revolutionary movement, Chinland Guardian is proud to present the following memoirs by a former student activist and ex-Chin revolutionary soldier. Two decades after he was forced into exile, Victor Biak Lian remains active in the struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma. He now works as a member of the Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC), the Chin Forum (CF) and a member of the Board of Directors of Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO). An advisory member of the Chinland Guardian News Group, Victor Biak Lian was visiting Switzerland to attend a meeting on “Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples” at the United Nations in Geneva where Chinland Guardian caught up with him.
In a debate entitled ‘Is Burma in transition?’, a prominent Chin political figure and human rights activist Victor Biak Lian of ENC (Ethnic Nationalities Council) last Sunday spoke as a member of the panel in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Chin communities, churches and individuals across the globe welcomed DFID’s ‘philanthropic’ responses to the devastating food crisis that has been facing the Chin people in Burma’s Chin State since late 2006.
In its statement on the devastating food crisis in Burma’s Chin State, the Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC) today expressed concern for the Chin victims, calling for the immediate action to address the ‘military-neglected’ situation.
Chin villagers are facing an increasing degree of perpetual hardship and harassment by the SPDC’s soldiers, sparking fears that the situation, given the devastating food crisis in Chin State, could get worse and more complicated.
Fears for the safety of a Chin refugee currently being held in Malaysia’s Pokok Sena Jail rise after a decision to deport him into Thailand in December 2008 has been announced by Malaysian authorities, his inmate recently released said.
A Chin student, Salai Cung Cem Bik, yesterday made a short speech, introducing a Hakha dialect to the audience in a Europe-wide celebration of the 8th annual European Day of Languages held at the Upper Secondary School of Nadderud, Norway.
