18.03.2007
400 Kuki Phone Maws for March 2007
_ by David Law
In a March 14 article from the Kuki website, it is reported that over 400 Kuki refugees from a grouping center in Laijang Village on the Indian side of the border were attacked, beaten up, and abducted by a contingent of Burmese soldiers and their underlings around 5.30 am of March 13.
In Burma, this is the anniversary of the killing of Phone Maw, the engineering student demonstrator, the first one in that fateful year of 1988, March 13, that sparked off the nation-wide Democracy Uprisings. This is a sacred day for all democracy activists in Burma, and for the Burma Army to chase into a foreign country to and attack 400 people is surely a provocation against the Democracy Movement, a brazen act of spitefulness as if to say, we give you 400 more Phone Maws to commemorate with the original one.
From the context of the article, it appears that the Kukis have been harassed by Burmese soldiers so many times in their own native village(s) that they decided to seek refuge by fleeing across the border into India and that the soldiers relentlessly followed them and brought them back to Burma but for what purpose?
Kuki couple
Is it for further terrorization, for subjugation, for forced labor as porter-slaves, or is it simply to break the spirit of the Kuki people into an abject state of slavery, that there is no hope, no escape, and no salvation for them, or could it be possible that the soldiers are out to commit a massacre of genocidal proportions?
It is tragic for the ethnic people living on the frontier, the Kukis, Nagas, Shans, Kachins, Chins, Rohingya, and Arakanese. These peoples live on both sides of the borders of northwest Burma, eastern Bengladesh, and northeastern India. For them, this is their home, split into two by national borders and having no aid or succor from each of these nations, harrassed from both sides, like being caught between a hammer and an anvil.
Kuki people
In this present case of Kuki Kidnappings, the Kukis on the Manipuran-Indian side of the border in Moreh have been strongly demonstrating for action to save their kith and kin who have disappeared without a trace. There is very little chance that the Burmese soldiers will ever release them if they are alive, for then, that would mean their subjugation is meaningless. The Burma Army wants to strike fear into the ethnic people and force them to believe that escape from Burma is impossible and that they can be recaptured with impunity; they want to force these defenceless people into a mindless state like animals, like draft cattle, to bear whatever punishment is given to them, and that whatever oppression, whatever slave labor that is demanded of them must be borne without protest, and without resistance.
And what is New Delhi going to do about this? Are they going to take concrete action?
Months ago, there were reports of some 60 Hindu Indians getting killed by insurgents in parts of Assam or Manipura, and hence Delhi became so righteously outraged that they were going to make a pact with the Burmese Army Devil for joint action to root out and destroy those insurgents. Indeed, the Indian Army appears to be willing for both armies to operate on both sides of the border, in which case both the Indians and the Burmese armies are interchangeably acting as the hammers and anvils for each other.
On the one hand, it is regrettable that 60 Hindu Indian citizens got killed -- allegedly by Assamese insurgents, but it is equally regrettable that 400 Christian Kukis from Burma are attacked and have vanished without a trace, possibly being tortured to death even as these words are being written. All 460 victims, be it Hindu or Christian, Indians or Burma-Kukis, all are humans who deserve the right to live, and to live in peace, freedom, and justice.
Delhi would do well to remember this and to act with true justice for all, not just for Hindu Indians alone. For Delhi to ignore this mass attack of Burmese Kukis will only be detrimental to India because the Kukis, the Chins, the Nagas, just like their neighbors, the Manipurans, Assamese, and other natives of northeast India, live on both sides of the border, and for them to be allowed to get attacked and hunted down like animals will only further alienate them, and foment greater rebellion against Delhi.
Animals have forest preserves, or national parks where they are protected, but these Kukis have nothing. Animals can be shot only if special permits are obtained, and only during special seasons, but Kukis can be hunted, captured, killed, or enslaved at any time of the year in India. What kind of Ahimsa Philosophy of Nonviolence is this? Ahimsa will become a ridiculous word.
If the Delhi government is so outraged by the death of 60, well, then, they better be outraged by 400 Kukis No? Why not? they are refugees from Burma, but they came to India for refuge and India has the responsibility to protect them.
Otherwise, the sovereignty of India will be the laughingstock of the world that a bunch of barbaric Burmese soldiers can actually invade Indian soil, and forcibly drag hundreds of innocent natives into oblivion.
Let us not only watch with a wait-and-see attitude. This is a case for not only Kukis, not only for all natives of Northeast India, but because it occurred on 13 March 2007, the 19th Anniversary of the Martyrdom of Phone Maw, these innocent Kukis should be regarded by all Democracy Activists 400 additional Phone Maws in their struggle for Justice and Freedom and Human Rights. Let not the sacrifices of all Phone Maws be in vain.
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