An ethnic minority tribe in Chin State plans to stage a protest next month against the planned incorporation of their village into a larger township. Residents say they fear the move will subsume their unique culture.
The Union Hluttaw recently approved a motion to add four wards into the Falam township administrative zone, and to disband the Laizo Village Tract rather than rebuild it after most of its residents were relocated following landslides in 2015.
“Only the Laizo, Taisum and Lente tribes have villages that are comprised [solely of] their tribes,” said Pu Za Thang, chair of the Laizo Land Management Committee.
“If this village is included under a ward, it will become a mixed ward. We can’t say this is our land anymore. If land grants are issued, other people will enter so our language will die and our culture will fade,” he added.
He said the Laizo Village residents will stage a protest on November 6.
The Laizo Land Management Committee has lodged several appeals with the Chin State Chief Minister, the president, and the State Counsellor in order to preserve the autonomy of their village group, but to no avail.
“We worry that our ancestral lands will fall in the hands of others. The burial grounds and skeletons of our ancestors will fall into the hands of others. We, the Chin people, value our burial grounds. We want to preserve them,” said Pu Za Thang.
Heavy rain in 2015 led to mass landslides affecting all nine of Chin State’s township. Laizo Village Tract was largely evacuated amid the damage. Residents of four villages under the Laizo Village Group were relocated to the Lonpi tribe’s area in Falam, while residents from Laizo Village were relocated to Tlangva area, two miles away.
