Chin leader rejects Mizoram CM’s appeal to build ties with ‘strong’ Arakan Army. ‘Might cannot decide it’

Sui Khar says that Arakan Army being strong cannot be reason for ethnic outfit or Mizoram govt to choose what to do, downplays concerns of Myanmar conflict spilling into Lawngtlai.

Chin National Front vice-chairman Sui Khar (left) and Mizoram CM Lalduhoma (right) | Pic: ThePrint/@CMOMizoram

Guwahati/Aizawl: The Chin National Front (CNF) has taken exception to Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma’s statement last week in the US suggesting the Chin people develop friendship with the Arakan Army rather than fighting against the ethnic Rakhine insurgent group in Myanmar.

CNF vice-chairman Sui Khar told ThePrint over the phone from Myanmar that the need to act right or wrong does not depend on the might of the Arakan Army (AA), and added that the Mizoram chief minister should have spared a thought on the “post-State Administration Council” situation.

“The AA being strong cannot be the reason for the ethnic organisation or Mizoram government to choose what to do. A right or wrong is measured by own yardstick, one’s might shall not decide it,” Sui Khar said over the phone from Camp Victoria, the base of CNF’s armed wing, the Chin National Army (CNA), in western Myanmar, few kilometres from the Indian border at Farkawn village in Mizoram’s Champhai district.

Both the CNF and the Arakan Army are fighting against the Myanmar junta. While the former largely represents Chin and Kuki ethnic tribes in Myanmar that share a close bond with their counterparts in India and Bangladesh, the latter is composed of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and also other ethnic minorities.

Since the February 2021 military coup in the neighbouring country, the Arakan Army has made rapid strides in its war against the Myanmar military’s State Administration Council with 11 of 14 townships in Rakhine State under its control.

The Chin revolutionary groups, on the other hand, have control of Tonzang and Matupi townships (district) liberated from the SAC.

Lalduhoma, in his speech with Chin communities on Wednesday in Indianapolis, reportedly had stressed the need to promote unity among the Chin revolutionary forces. “If we have problems with the AA … they are stronger than us. They have large numbers of troops. So, we must make friends with them, and not fight them. Whether the Chin National Front or Chin Brotherhood or Chinland Council or Zomi Revolutionary Army, or AA or People’s Defence Force, we are revolting against the common enemy,” the CM said.

Vawiin khan Indianapolis, USA a Chin Community Meeting Programme chu Chief Minister Pu @Lal_Duhoma chuan khuallian niin a hmanpui. CM hi a nupui Pi Liansailovi, a tunu Zodinthari, India Consul General of Chicago, Pu Somnath Gosh leh a thawpuite, Pu @jonanz OSD ten an tawiawm pic.twitter.com/prlcg5jdEU

— CM Office Mizoram (@CMOMizoram) September 5, 2024

While Lalduhoma appealed for peaceful co-existence among the Chin rebel groups and the Arakan Army, he further cautioned that any confrontation with the group may result in a possible spill-over of the Myanmar conflict into Mizoram, particularly Lawngtlai district.

Mizoram shares a 510-km international border with Myanmar. Exports (unofficial) from Lawngtlai district to Paletwa Township in Chin State on the border with Rakhine State takes place through the Paletwa-Mizoram and the Kaladan River and its tributaries. A more active route is through Mizoram’s Siaha district. Rakhine State is dependent on Paletwa for importing basic food items.

In September last year, ThePrint reported how Lawngtlai has emerged as the “new trafficking route” for arms and ammunition from Myanmar into Mizoram.

Taking a dig at the Mizoram chief minister, CNF vice-president Sui Khar said: “India is not too weak to protect Lawngtlai from any advances by the AA—encroachment or invasion.”

An official of an Indian security agency told ThePrint that the Arakan Army continues to negotiate with the Indian government to allow their supply chains from Mizoram, even as the Central Young Lai Association, a Mizo civil society organisation, announced restrictions in June on the movement of goods including fuel into Myanmar, because much of the “humanitarian aid” is allegedly directed to the Arakan Army, which is targeting the Chin people.

The official said the people in Rakhine State have enough food, but short on fuel, medicine and fertilizers.

In July, the Lawngtlai district magistrate had issued prohibitory orders banning the black marketing and illegal transportation of fuel from Lawngtlai to foreign countries.

In his interactions with the Chin communities in America, CM Lalduhoma had reportedly stated that the Zo people are vastly separated in India, Myanmar and Bangladesh. “There will be one day where all the Zo people come together in the system of one rule,” he added.

Reiterating that proposals to fence the Mizoram-Myanmar will never be accepted by the ‘Zo’ people and the Mizoram government, Lalduhoma has said that the border was imposed by the colonial British rulers without the consent of the people living on both sides, or an understanding of ground realities.

A security analyst in Mizoram said that CM Lalduhoma trying to bring the Kuki-Zo community of India (in Mizoram and Manipur), Myanmar and Bangladesh under one-rule will “only add fuel to the already burning fire” in these places.

“In Chin itself, there are so many resistance groups fighting against the Myanmar Army, and amongst themselves. Many have attempted to bring them together, but failed—due to leadership differences, turf dominance and sub tribal affinity,” the analyst told ThePrint.

“Under such circumstances, the Mizoram CM trying to bring the Zo tribes of India, Myanmar, Bangladesh together is nothing different from the idea of ‘Greater Mizoram’, initially supported by former CM Zoramthanga’s Mizo National Front, and can only spell disaster in today’s context.”

How Chin groups & AA stack up

In Myanmar, the areas under control of Chin insurgent groups are divided between the Chinland Council, the leading political body that formed the ‘Chinland’ government in Chin State, and the Chin Brotherhood Alliance. The CNA and 14 local Chin defense forces (CDF) are under the Chinland Council. The CDF in Matupi has separated into two groups, one joining the Chin Brotherhood and another, the Chinland Council.

There are at least 18 CDFs in Myanmar’s Chin State, and some of the camps including Camp Victoria, the base of the CNA, and the headquarters of the Chin National Defence Force (CNDF) are located close to Mizoram’s Champhai district.

The Maraland Defence Force, a part of the Chin Brotherhood Alliance, is allied to the Arakan Army. In late February, it clashed with the CNA in Chin State’s Paletwa township. The Irrawaddy had reported in May that the Chin Brotherhood bloc urged the CNF/CNA to prioritise fighting the military in Thantlang Township and the Chin State capital, Hakha.

Through its alliances with similar groups across the country including the Chin Brotherhood Alliance, the Arakan Army has established control over 11 out of 18 townships spread across Rakhine State and Southern Chin State, The Diplomat reported in September.

Further, much of the SAC territory—from the China border to the north-western territory of Mandalay—is under control of the Three Brotherhood Alliance, of which the Arakan Army is a part. The other two ethnic armed groups are the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).

(Edited by Tony Rai)