Only a day before the Southern Chin State Conference was scheduled to take place organizers were informed by the President’s Office that it couldn’t go ahead.
Conference Organising Committee secretary U Aung Law Har said: “A letter with the signature of the director of the President’s Office was sent to us through the district administrator [ordering] a temporary halt [of the conference].”
Everyone is very unhappy, he said, explaining that after receiving the letter their expectations of the new government are much lower than before.
Representatives from participating townships, Palatwa, Matupi, Kanpatlet, and Mindat townships and other special guests had already arrived in Mindat Town to attend the conference before learning of its cancellation.
Prior to the conference, a new organization was formed to encourage more cooperation among the four townships on ethnic Chin affairs. Discussions about this were to take place during the conference, as well as preparations for the upcoming 21st Century Panglong Conference and 151 agreements from the Second Chin National Union.
At the time of press, it’s still unclear why the new government stopped the Southern Chin State Conference. Some said it was because organizers had originally requested permission to hold a meeting with the various Chin ethnic groups from Mindat District, which the four townships are part of, but then decided to organize a conference changing the name to the Southern Chin State Conference.
Reporting by Khonumthung News
Translated by Thida Linn
Edited by BNI staff
