When protests began in Loikaw in May 2021, he acted as mediator between the unarmed protesters, many of whom were Christians, and security forces.

Equipped with rocks and hammers, they grind the mineral into a dust and sift it in the bottom of a basin, just like the gold diggers from ages past.

The report by the Archdiocese of Imphal openly questions the role that state security forces have played in the conflict. “It is hard to say if the state forces were outnumbered or overwhelmed with calls for help, or if they were complicit."

The report finds that discrimination and persecution are clearly noticeable in 61 countries, and that in 49 of them, it is the government that persecutes or even murders its own citizens on religious grounds, with scarcely any reaction from the international community.

They possess vital minerals, particularly coltan, which is indispensable for high-tech devices. But these blessings have become curses for inhabitants of the region, who are subjected to the violence and exploitation of armed militias.

“Those that are not Muslims don’t vote for our party. Most of them. So why should I give them the deputy governor position? I did my calculation, and I knew we could win the election without giving them [that].”