Kuki students seek release of truckers held in Myanmar

Imphal: The Kuki Students’ Organization, general headquarters, urged the Centre to seek the release of four truckers from Churachandpur district bordering Myanmar, who were apprehended by the neighboring country’s army last month.
The four — Thangliankhup, Khaisianmang , Pausonlian and Khaizakham — were hauling firewood into a truck near Myanmar’s Vaivet village close to the porous international boundary on November 19 when the troops rounded them up, said a KSO statement.
“A Myanmarese village chief had requested them to help him haul the firewood. The chief had assured them of their safety,” the statement added.
After the four were apprehended by the army, the village chief tried to negotiate but he too was also pulled up and all their belongings — mobile phones, driving licence, wallet and cash — were confiscated by the troops, who later handed the four to Myanmar police.
The four have been transporting household commodities like rice, tin sheets and cement in Behiang area on the Indian side for the past three years, the statement added.
KSO said the four are innocent truckers, who have nothing to do with any illegal activities.
“The firewood hauled by them was not meant for sale. They were just helping the Myanmarese village chief who was well known to them,” added the statement.
The four are now starving, suffering from acute health problems as they have been tortured, it said, and added that their poor families were running from pillar to post to get them back.
KSO urged the Indian authorities to act immediately to ensure that the four were reunited with their families.
Last month, chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh had urged Union external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to take up the issue of six Manipuris, who are currently being lodged in Myanmar prisons, to ensure they are freed.