The Chin National Council (CNC) has urged cease fire groups to stop transforming their armed wings to a border guard force under Burmese Army control as desired by the military junta.
1 September 2009: The Chin National Council (CNC) has urged cease fire groups to stop transforming their armed wings to a border guard force under Burmese Army control as desired by the military junta.
A CNC statement on August 28 said that the military government has been trying to persuade armed groups of national ethnicity, which had ceasefire pacts with the junta, to change to a border guard force. This will break the unity among national ethnic groups.
Therefore, during the four-day council meeting from August 25 to 28, somewhere in the border area near India, it totally rejected the proposal of the military regime. In the meeting all four representative parties of the CNC were present. They chalked out nine projects in order to provide relief to Chin people, who are suffering the impact of famine in Chin state.
On the junta’s proposal of transforming ethnic armed forces to a border guard force, Mr. Ralnghin, general secretary of CNC said, “It is their way based on their priorities but it cannot usher unity among national ethic groups. It can erode the unity we have now.”
“Now we are in the final and the most important stage in our country, so firstly we have to fight for equality and self-determination with other national ethnic groups, which we have already started. The national road map and the forthcoming 2010 general elections are meaningless to us. We have rejected it. If someone desires to contest the election he has to first think of the fundamental rights of the state,” he added.
The meeting highlighted that the junta had framed Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the Burmese National League of Democracy, so that she cannot participate in the election because she has to spend 18 months under house arrest. The CNC condemned the regime for further detaining Aung San Suu Kyi.
The Chin National Council was established by the Chin National Democracy group, the Zomi National Congress, Mara People’s Party and the Chin National Front in 2006.
