The Burmese military junta has been imparting civil militia training to 30 people from three villages in southern Matupi Township, Chin state. The training began on 28 January and will end after a week.

The training is being conducted on the Phaneng village football ground. The participants are 15 people from Phaneng, Thi Cawng villages and5 from Ngaleng village, it was learnt.

“Now the training in groups is being imparted for only 2010. I think it will be continued next year. It does not benefit civilians. They are doing it because of the order from above,” a local said.

The LIB 140 based in Phaneng organized the training but all food for the trainees were provided by Phaneng, Thi Cawng and Ngaleng villages after collecting donations from villagers.

“The civil militia training has been on since 2004 every year supervised by the Matupi township Tactical (2) LIB 140 camp. This has forced the youths to flee to neighbouring countries to evade training,” said a member of the Block Peace and Development Council (BPDC).

He added that there are no youths to select for training. The junta also knows about it, so every family has to participate as a routine.

The military junta has imparted civil militia training all over Chin state on the pretext of security for respective villages. This year, it was started from Matupi and Paletwa townships in Chin state. Besides, the volunteer firemen’s training was also conducted last year. So, many youths fled to Mizoram, northeast state of India. –