Myanmar shadow on villagers

IMPHAL, April 8: With no help from the state government and the Centre, the residents of Molcham, Khayansssssg and Yangoulein villages on the Indo-Myanmar border are living under the shadow of threats from the Myanmarese Army. Their immediate concern is the absence of any Indian security forces in the area. Manipur's Molcham valley, which has been embroiled in controversy for the past four decades, was in the news again after the Manipur Human Rights Commission took up a case of alleged torture of Indian villagers by the Myanmarese Army. Situated in Chandel district, Molcham had always been eyed by the Myanmar military junta since 1961 with view to "grab a part of it" for the construction of a road, sources said. In a bid to stop such incidents, the state government had planned to establish a police post a few years ago. The Manipur Police Housing Corporation has already completed the construction of a police station. However, nothing has been done so far. Following the rights commission's directive to the government for a report on the issue before April 14, officials have taken up the matter again. The Myanmarese authorities have even removed the border post number 60 to facilitate the encroachment. This was brought to the government's notice in 1981, sources said. There is however a technical problem with border post number 66. The Survey of India maps printed after 1975 mark the stretch between post number 65 and 67 as the "de facto boundary". The missing post does not seem to bother survey officials. Official sources here said the survey along the Indo-Myanmar border last month could not be effectively conducted because of lack of adequate security. The survey officials had demanded about 400 armed security personnel but the government managed to provide only 80, sources said. State law minister O. Joy Singh told The Telegraph that the government had heard the complaint on Myanmarese encroachment. It would raise the issue with the Centre as it involved the international boundary, he said. Joy Singh said Manipur had lost about 28 square km of land to Myanmar in the last 50 years. He added that the Centre was informed about the seriousness of the issue. Sources from Manipur Cultural Integration Conference (which raised the Molcham issue for the first time in 1981) said the Myanmarese military had approached New Delhi in 1985 for exchange of a village called Choro in return for Molcham.