4 March 2010: An abduction victim’s family has been asked to pay Kyat 300 lakhs as ransom in PaungMu village in Paletwa township, Chin state Burma on March 2.

“On 2 March at 9 pm five men wearing masks came to PaungMu village and kidnapped Mr. Hait Htun, a shop owner. They took him to the forest, and then they demanded Kyat 300 lakhs from his family to release him. But his family did not have that kind of money and no idea where to find it,” said a local.

The abduction was reported to the Sinletwa village based military camp, but there is no response from the authorities till today.

The local people said that the five spoke in Mara language to communicate with each other; however they were not aware to which group they belonged.
The Chin National Army (CNA) and the Mara People’s Army (MPA) are active in these areas. A spokesman of CNA said that they are not involved with the kidnapping, but some unknown persons are collecting money from local people in the name of their organization.

It is very common to collect money from kidnapping in Paletwa Township, facing famine from 2009. In December 15, 2009 Mara People’s Army (MPA) had demanded Kyat 8 lakh each from Wadaikong and Yongwa villages.

The local people, therefore, believe that the kidnapping was also organized by Mara People’s Army (MPA).

Mara People’s Army was established in 15 July 2009 and is led by a retired Burmese Army officer. There are about 20-armed men in the group. Their main objective is to unite Mara people and to get a Mara autonomous region.-