The Chin

The Chin people are of Sino-Tibetan origin and inhabit an important mountain chain in north-western Burma bordering north-east India and small parts of Bangladesh. Chin are not a single group but are, in fact, composed of a number of ethnic groups such as the Asho, Cho, Khumi, Kuki, Laimi, Lushai and Zomi, each with their language, belonging to the Tibeto-Burman language branch. A mountain people by tradition, like in Kachin, more than 85% of the Chin are Christians. Nowadays, around 500,000 Chin live in Chin State, a couple of hundred thousands in neighbouring Sagaing region and many more as refugees or, after being resettled, in India, Malaysia, Australia and the US.
The Chin was one of the ethnic groups that signed the Panglong Agreement of 1947 with its promise of a federal structure in the new independent Burma. This was never fully implemented and contributed to the slide into a civil war between the state and some ethnic groups within a decade after independence, particularly after the 1962 coup d’état by General Ne Win.
Since the nineties, there have been consistent reports of Chin people being recruited as forced labour, arrested arbitrarily and tortured by the Myanmar military regime. The forced labour is particularly problematic as it takes farmers away from their fields, leaving residents unable to afford food, healthcare or education, forcing them to take out loans, incurring personal debt to pay for basic services or to flee the country.
The Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) has reported that Chin Christians have continued to face discrimination and persecution by the government, including forced evictions, threats of arson, bans on religious gatherings and assaults until the recent military coup of February 2021.
Beside a continuous harassment of the population, the State of Chin has been systematically left out of country wide development programs and infrastructure upgrade, making Chin State the poorest and least developed region in Myanmar, furthermore chasing people away from there.
Since the military coup of 2021, many young Chin have returned to their home towns to participate in the revolution to fight the military dictatorship, abandoning their studies or their jobs in the public administration to enact the “civilian disobedience movement” and refuse to support or participate in any activity under military authority. Thousands of teachers, administrators, students, army and police personnel, doctors, nurses and civil servants have returned to their respective regions to run schools, medical facilities, administration and defence of the territories under their control where they manage to chase away the military regime. Many of them have joined the Chin Defence Forces (CDF) in Chin State or the People Defence Forces (PDF) in other regions.
Relentless airstrikes and artillery of the Myanmar military dictatorship, targeting villages and towns, have killed and maimed numerous civilians and resistance fighters alike, and caused hundreds of thousands of people becoming displaced throughout Chin State and the rest of the country.
Since September 2021, until recently, the town of Thantlang has been continuously and completely burned down and shelled, until all of its 10,000 inhabitants fled to surrounding villages and to neighbouring India. At present, the town is split in two and remains to be the scene of the fierce battle between the Chin defence Forces, Chin National Army on one side and the military junta supported by combat helicopters and airstrikes on the other.
Due to a complicated geography, non-existent roads and various Myanmar military and police check-points on the only few access roads, it is extremely difficult to bring much needed supplies and humanitarian aid to the people in need to the areas controlled by the resistance.