BANGKOK - Christian students from
Myanmar’s Chin ethnic minority have been forced to convert to Buddhism,
shave their heads and wear monastic robes, a rights group said
Wednesday. The Chin, a mainly Christian group in the poor and remote
west of the predominantly Buddhist country, face harassment for the link
between their faith and British colonial rule, according to the Chin
Human Rights Organization (CHRO). “President Thein Sein’s government
claims that religious freedom is protected by law but in reality
Buddhism is treated as the de facto state religion”, said Salai Ling,
Program Director of the CHRO. Rachel Fleming, another member of the
group, said Christianity does not fit with the national view that “to be
Burmese, you should be Buddhist”. Chin students are also frequently
targeted for enrolment in schools run by Myanmar’s military which
convert them to Buddhism, she said, adding that Christian students are
beaten for failing to recite Buddhist scriptures. Poverty among the
Chin, whose main source of income is farming, leaves the group
vulnerable to recruitment to these schools as the military offers free
food, education and government jobs once they graduate. Chin state,
which borders India, is home to around 500,000 people. Tens of thousands
have fled to neighbouring India to escape army abuses under the former
junta, according to rights groups. In its annual report this year
Amnesty International said Chin Christians still face persecution,
citing the case of a preacher barred from speaking at a church and
ordered to leave the area. Myanmar is home to a patchwork of ethnic
groups and civil war has gripped parts of the country since its
independence in 1948. But Myanmar’s reformist government has agreed
ceasefires with several ethnic rebel groups as part of reforms since
coming to power last year.
Read more:
http://nation.com.pk/international/06-Sep-2012/myanmar-christians-forced-to-convert
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