The first round of training will be conducted in upper Bahlai village in Paletwa Township on February 14. Each village in Paletwa Township has sent seven persons of the ages of 18 to 40 years from their respective places to attend the training.

“We have to attend the training spending money from our pockets. The authorities have already listed seven people in our village to attend,” said a local in upper Bahlai village.

The authorities have ordered local people through the village headmen not to go outside their villages before the training starts.

A report said that the training will be conducted throughout Paletwa Township within the next month. The duration of each training programme will be a week.

There are about 400 villages or 90 tracts in Paletwa Township. Four military battalions – LIB 289, LIB 234 and LIB 538 are located there.

The regime intends to conduct the training in a fashion similar to the earlier volunteer fire training for Chin people in 2009, which included basic military training, combat and handling weapons.

 “From my point of view this is a shameful trickery on the part of the military junta, which can lead to fighting between Chin people,” said Mr. Solomon, second army commander of the Chin National Army. – Khonumthung News.