Chin people fined for not attending pro-junta rally
November 21, 2007 - Junta authorities in Chin state, Burma have unleashed a kind of vendetta on people who did not attend the rally to support the outcome of the regime's National Convention held in the state on November 9.
A mass rally to support NC in Hakha, capital of Chin state, Burma on October 9.
The Township Peace and Development Council's (TPDC) authorities from Thangtlang Township in Chin state have started to fine Kyat 1,500 (Burmese currency) to each person who flouted the order of the authorities to join the pro-junta rally.
On November 9, the local authorities forced the people in Thangtlang to come out on the streets to join the rally to support the outcome of NC and shout pro-junta slogans.
"Some people attended the rally because they were forced. The people know what is black and what is white," a local in Chin state said.
Around 6,000 people from Thangtlang Township joined the pro-junta rally while around 100 reportedly refused to attend, according to a local in Thangtlang.
Earlier, the Burmese military junta organized rallies in other towns such as in Falam, Rihkhaudar and Hakha in Chin state to support the tenuous 14-year long convention to draft a state constitution as part of junta's seven step road map to "disciplined democracy" in Burma.
The National Convention held in the outskirts of Rangoon, the former capital of Burma began in 1993 and was wrapped up in September 2007. – Khonumthung.
