Since Myanmar’s military coup in February 2021, ethnic armed groups in Chin State have fought the junta. In the past four and a half years, the Myanmar army has destroyed Chin churches, killed and displaced civilians, and wiped out entire cities.
Yet beyond resisting military rule, ethnic armed groups in Chin State have also been fighting one another to extend territorial ambitions in the rugged, hilly region.
In July, fierce fighting erupted between the veteran Chin National Army and the newer Chin National Defense Force. The violence left dozens of combatants dead and forced more than 4,000 civilians to flee across the border into the Indian state of Mizoram.
Chin pastors lament the infighting, as 85 percent of the Chin population profess to be Christians. As a part of the Christian minority in the officially Buddhist country, they have faced religious persecution for decades. Chin diaspora groups in the US often raise awareness of these injustices and call on the US government to take action against the junta.
Yet unity between the more than 50 subtribes within Chin State—many with its own language—has been long been a challenge.
“We grew up under the Bible’s teachings, but when these disputes break out, where is the Bible?” asked Khuang Lian, an ethnically Chin pastor who lives outside the state. “Chin people who are concerned about God’s Word are pained by what’s happening. We cry and we feel discouraged.”
The July clashes were the latest in a series of skirmishes between the rival armed groups in the last two years. While Chin resistance groups have managed to weaken the military’s grip on the state, intensifying conflict between the Chin National Front and the Chin Brotherhood has emerged as another threat to peace.
The Chin National Front, formed in 1988 to fight against the junta, was the state’s main armed group until the 2021 coup. Nonetheless, many Chin people have access to firearms, as hunting is a way of life in the remote state often neglected by the central government. This allowed civilians to assemble quickly into numerous militias after the coup.
Several of these militias banded together to form the Chin Brotherhood, Chin National Front’s rival. Global think tank Crisis Group described relations between the two as “toxic,” noting the fatal clashes and highly charged online rhetoric from supporters in each camp. That the Chin Brotherhood has allied itself with the powerful Arakan Army from neighboring Rakhine State is particularly alarming for those with the Chin National Front, who worry the outside interference could endanger Chin autonomy.
Some Christian leaders have urged both sides to engage in peaceful dialogue, to little avail.
Salai Za Uk Ling, executive director of the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO), said it is disappointing to see how each faction has allowed selfish goals to take over the initial struggle for collective survival.
“Those in power have gone back to the old, oppressive ways of turf wars that are not necessarily in the best interests of the people who are suffering,” he said.
Even before the coup, nearly 6 in 10 people in the state lived below the poverty line, while 1 in 10 children were projected to die before they turned five, according to UNICEF. Today, almost 40 percent of the state’s 500,000 residents have been displaced, owing largely to the junta’s attacks and infighting, according to the nonprofit Institute of Chin Affairs.
Faith has little bearing on those leading the divided resistance, Salai Za Uk Ling added.
The warring sides are “behaving like nonbelievers,” said a pastor in Myanmar’s Sagaing Region adjacent to Chin State. He asked to remain anonymous out of fear of imprisonment given the junta’s hostile stance toward Christianity.
“Christians should be fighting for the truth, not fighting one another,” said the pastor.
His Chin counterparts have been struggling to counsel congregants who are involved in the fighting. “With tensions so high, Christian leaders have found it difficult, and some may even be afraid to approach the armed groups under such lawless circumstances,” he said. “Besides praying for God to intervene, there is little they can do.”
The first Christian missionaries to the Chin people, American Baptists Arthur and Laura Carson, arrived in the capital of the state, Hakha, in the late 1800s. Over the next century, a large majority of the Chin abandoned their traditional animistic beliefs and professed faith in Christ.
Khuang Lian, the Chin pastor, wants his people to return to their faith.
“Although my family does not stay in Chin State, I am still very concerned about the political situation because these are my people,” Khuang Lian said. “This is my homeland. I don’t want to see them attacking each other. I want to see peace and reconciliation. I want to see them go back to the Bible.”
Some pastors have even taken sides in the conflict, putting their tribal interests above God, Khuang Lian and Salai Za Uk Ling pointed out.
“They are supposed to be shepherding their flock according to God’s Word, but instead they are teaching erroneously under the cloak of Christianity,” said Salai Za Uk Ling.
The military junta plans to hold elections starting December 28, which outside observers widely view as a way to legitimize the military’s power. The junta has disbanded dozens of opposition parties, and voting will not take place in many areas due to the ongoing fighting. Meanwhile, the military has regained several strategic towns near the Chinese border after the Ta’ang National Liberation Army signed a cease-fire deal brokered by China.
As Myanmar’s civil war drags on, Salai Mang Hre Lian, head of CHRO’s human rights documentation team, urged fellow believers to “let go of our egos and self-interests.”
“We are all under the same God and in one blood. We should be living in fear and reverence of him, not of one another,” he said.
