More pagodas in Chin state, ban on church construction
May 18, 2007: With no let up in religious persecution by the Burmese military junta in Chin state, restrictions have been imposed on construction of churches but building of pagodas is being encouraged.
Pagoda on hilltop of Mt. Victoria in Chin state
The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) authorities were said to have just finished constructing a new pagoda in Falam Township, Northern Chin State with funds from the state’s budget in the first week of May, a local from Falam town said.
Last year, SPDC authorities donated Kyat 54 lakhs (around US $ 2400) from the state budget for the construction of pagodas. Construction of the pagoda just completed, was started in Pathankhan in Falam in 2006.
“It is grossly unfair to allow construction of pagodas where they don’t allow Christians to build churches”, a local from Falam said, pointing to the religious bias of the SPDC.
After the SPDC grabbed power in 1988, the ban on the right to construct churches came into effect and they destroyed churches and several crosses erected in Chin state where 90 percent of the population are Christians.
Construction of pagodas are on in the very places where crosses where destroyed and adjacent to army posts in Chin state. – KNG.
