A pagoda will rise in the dismantled cross in Boltlang Chin state
13 July 2005: A Pagoda will be erected in the site of the dismantled Cross by military authorities later this winter in Chin state, Burma.
A man from Matupi told our reporter" the army do not make known when will the construction start, but a policeman told the villagers that the army have the intention to construct a pagoda in the disputed site".
The site of the dismantled Cross was declared as military area and civilians were prohibited entry since then. This restriction of entry effected the days of Christian's religious ceremonies such as Easter Sunday or Christmas. The tactical II Commander Col. San Aung has been collecting cement, sands and other construction materials for the construction of a Pagoda in the same site.
Pagoda construction experts were hired from the plain area of Burma in Tingvil mount and the same constructors will be employed in the construction of the new pagada in Boltlang, reports a Church elder.
The concreted Cross-had been dismantled in 3rd January 2005 by the SPDC with a bulldozer. The Cross-had been erected in a site which could be view from all areas of Matupi, Southern Chin State, by all Christian denominations.
The SPDC had inaugurated Mahatuhta Aung Pagoda at Tingil mount, between Matupi and PhaNeng village, the headquarters of tactical II, on 8th June 2005. Government servants and about 300 civilians attended the opening ceremony under the supervision of Colonel San Aung and his wife Daw The The , civilians were prohibited to visit Tlingvil mount since the construction of the Pagoda till this day.
In the same manner, the SPDC constructed a pagoda and Monks quarters in Mt. Rung, where a Cross had stand for many years, constructed by the Hakha Baptist Church in 1980. Mount Rung was a site for religious ceremonies of the Hakha Christian Youth and the Christian communities. The SPDC steadily prohibited the occasional visit of the site and the youth and Christian's communities had no other such religious site.
The SPDC dismantled the crosses of Chin state in 1995 and later constructed pagoda in the same sites in Hakha, Falam, Thantlang and Matupi. The Cross-beside the Golf field of Matupi is the only standing cross in Chin state today. KNG
