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Villagers forced to call family members abroad back to support charter
Junta authorities in Mongpiang township, Eastern Shan State have been forcing villagers to call their family members from foreign countries back to support for the junta drafted charter in the upcoming May referendum, according to a reliable source.
By Hseng Khio
Fah
On 23 April, authorities
from Mongpiang based Light Infantry Battalions (LIB) 360 and 528 and Infantry
Battalion (IB) 43 called on the villagers of Narpha and Yawngpan, Wanphit
village tract, about 10 miles northeast of Mongpiang, to call their family
members in foreign countries back in order to support the upcoming May
referendum.
There are some 40 households each village. The authorities
made a deadline date for the villagers to recall the family members. If they do
not arrive at the end of this month, April, the parents will be put in
prison.
"Some villagers are so afraid that some are arriving on the
Thai-Burma border to call their relatives, sons and daughters who are working in
Thailand," said a source from Tachilek. "Today, 7 of them went back home with
their sons and daughters. Because they have to be back inside 3 or 4
days."
On the same day, Chairman of Loilem District Peace and
Development Council Colonel Kyaw Zwa called a meeting with officials from
village tracts and quarters in Kunhing to urge the people to cast "Yes" votes in
the May referendum, a source said.
The big problem inside the Federal Union of Burma