Aizawl: The executive committee of the Mara Thyutlia Py (MTP), the largest civil society organisation in Mizoram’s Siaha district, decided to suspend all trading activities with Myanmar’s Rakhine state and southern Chin state indefinitely from 7 pm on Wednesday.The decision followed a report on altercations between Rakhine traders and transporters and the MTP volunteers at Khaikhy village. The report was submitted by the MTP’s Phura sub-headquarters on Tuesday after an on-the-spot study of Monday’s incident.According to the report, violence broke out between the traders from Rakhine state of Myanmar and volunteers of the Mara Thyutlia Py (MTP) or Mara youth association on the banks of Salalui river near Khaikhy village, located at the southern tip of Siaha district, on Monday afternoon. It alleged that Myanmar traders damaged and later set fire to an MTP duty post.The report said Rakhine traders buying and transporting goods from the Indian side by boats became agitated after finding that few commodities were available for transport from Khaikhy village. The Rakhine traders and transporters approached MTP volunteers manning the duty post, which oversees the movement of goods, and demanded commodities to be transported across Salalui river, leading to a heated exchange.The MTP volunteers left the duty post to avoid violent confrontation, following which the Rakhine traders and transporters allegedly damaged it and set it on fire. They also tore pages of the record books containing names of the transporters carrying commodities by boats as well as account books.MTP volunteers also claimed that around Rs 10,000 in cash was found to be missing from the duty post.Khaikhy is one of the main hubs of unregulated border trade between traders from Myanmar’s Rakhine state and southern Mizoram. Most of the goods transported through the area are sent to Rakhine and southern Chin states.More than 100 pick-up trucks transport goods to Khaikhy daily, while over 100 boats carry the goods across Salalui river to Salachhuah village in Rakhine state.The trade embargo is likely to hit people in Rakhine and southern Chin states as the areas have been cut off from the rest of Myanmar since the military coup. Southern Mizoram is their main source of essential commodities, including fuel, it said.
