10/05/2021 Myanmar (International Christian Concern) – Two elderly Christian men in Myanmar’s Chin state were killed in a car by the Burmese Army (Tatmadaw) as they entered the town of Thantlang to help its displaced villagers.
Pu Ral Tu (70) and Pu Hram Cung (70), two respected community leaders had previously fled to Hakha as part of an almost total exodus of the town’s 15,000 residents thanks to a vicious Tatmadaw assault on September 18.
On September 29, together with four other passengers, their travelling van was attacked by the Tatmadaw after they had finished a meeting about helping fleeing villagers. The two did not survive, while Zo Peng, 50, sustained a head injury, and Than Heng, 78, injured his back during the shooting.
According to Myanmar Now, Ral Tu, who worked as a judge and was also a minister for several Christian congregations, was a trusted elder in the town of Thantlang. The two were given Christian burials at the cemetery in Thantlang the following day.
“The event is a sign that all of our lives are under threat,” one of Thantlang’s last remaining residents told Democratic Voice of Burma.
“Now, we are also fleeing to Hakha. My wife and I understand that we are now unable to stay in our home in Thantlang anymore,” he added. Thantlang has become a battleground between the local defense groups and the Tatmadaw in recent days, where thousands fled, and a pastor was shot dead by the Burmese Army as he tried to help put out fire caused by shelling.
The Christian-majority Chin state has been a stronghold of the civil disobedience movement against the coup staged by the Tatmadaw last February.
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