Ethnic Chin Mara defence force accuses another resistance group of detaining its members

Four members of the Chinland Defence Force-Mara (CDF-Mara) were arrested by another anti-junta armed group in Chin State’s Paletwa earlier this month which has continued to hold them for several days, the organisation said this week. According to a Monday statement the CDF-Mara, the Maraland Defence Force (MDF) detained squadron commander Baik Hnaw Chua and a private named Bwei Ya on January 5 near Shwe Laik Wa village on the India-Myanmar border. Two days later they also took battalion commander Khu Mar and tactical officer Htet San into their custody while the pair tried to negotiate for the release of the others. The arrests are linked to an MDF unit commanded by a member named Tu Pah, the CDF-Mara claimed. The group also described the MDF as having ties to the Arakan Army, a major ethnic armed organisation active in southern Chin State and throughout neighbouring Rakhine State. The Arakan Army and the MDF have based themselves in Shwe Laik Wa since seizing the nearby Shin Let Wa base of the junta at the northern edge of Paletwa Township on January 3. James, the regional administrator of the Interim Mara Council, told Myanmar Now on Thursday that the CDF-Mara squadron commander and the private were targeted while buying supplies in the area; the battalion commander and tactical officer who were arrested later were reportedly unarmed when they approached the MDF about securing their comrades’ release. “The MDF invited them by phone, saying that they would provide not only food but also security, and release the captured officers. They warned them not to bring weapons,” James explained. “The tactical officer believed them and went to Shwe Laik Wa in plainclothes and without any weapons, along with the battalion commander. Then they were both arrested.” The administrator added that the CDF-Mara had “begged” the MDF to release the four men, but that the MDF had responded that they had been unable to make contact with their leadership for permission to do so. “It doesn’t look good that the Mara people are arresting one another,” James said, referring to the ethnic Chin sub-group that lives in Chin State’s Paletwa, Thantlang, and Matupi townships, and in Mizoram in India. Myanmar Now contacted Arakan Army spokesperson Khaing Thukha and the MDF for comment on the allegations, but the calls went unanswered. The MDF’s political wing commented that the armed group’s military command had not released any information about the case. While the MDF is known to collaborate with the Arakan Army, the CDF-Mara was founded soon after the February 2021 military coup and is closely tied with another ethnic armed organisation: the Chin National Front.

Ethnic Chin Mara defence force accuses another resistance group of detaining its members

The CDF-Mara chapter says that a local ally of the Arakan Army is holding its officers in Paletwa Township, where all three groups are active

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