This article is about people from forced relocation sites and internally displaced persons (IDP) areas in Tenasserim Division, Karen State, Burma. The vast majority people under the control of the Burmese military dictatorship, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), are struggling to survive. These are stories from the people about their experiences.
Internally Displaced Person Areas
People who live in IDP areas are called the enemy by the State Peace and Development Council, but they are not. They are the people of Burma, who have been forced to leave their homes. Even though people in the IDP areas have to move very often, they are free to support their daily lives.
Those from IDP areas and forced relocation sites often journey to each other to keep up-to-date with the situation, troop movements and to share their experiences. The leader of Ka Pla village, which is located in a forced relocation site, Saw Ta Paw Kwa, visited an IDP area and described what the Burmese soldiers did to him. “In November after the Burmese army fought with their enemy (Karen National Union), they came back to our village and punished us for not informing them about the KNU. They called the villagers and made them stand in the sunshine for three hours. It was too hot for them. Even though we were the leaders in the village, they called for us. They forced us also to stand in the sun. One soldier hit me with his gun, then the soldiers bound me, slapped and punched my head and then they stabbed my thigh. They asked us why we did not inform them about the KNU. They hit five people including two girls. For the future, I would like to live as brothers and sisters in peace. They always torture our village.”
While Saw Ta Paw Kwa remains with his family in the village, events like this and other human right abuses lead villagers to flee their homes and become internally displaced persons. They search for places to live that they think the Burmese army will not find. They grow rice paddies to feed their families. Fears that they the Burmese troops will find them are every present, so they monitor news from villagers and rebel groups about the movements of the army. If the army is getting close to where the IDPs are hiding, they flee.
Naw K’Tray, crying, describes how she became a widowed. She said, “One Sunday afternoon I was waiting for my husband, Saw See Praw, and our children by the stream. My husband went to listen to news about the Burmese army situation. I heard gun shots fired, then, he and the children ran back to me and he shouted to the children, “don’t make a sound when you run”. My children came back to me and we heard the gun again. I did not hear his voice anymore. They shot my husband. I and my children ran to another mountain. We did not have food and slept on the rock without anything. Now when I enter my paddy field, I can’t control my tears and I am full with thoughts.”
The Light Infantry Battalion 104 led by Aung Zaw Min killed Saw See Praw and tried to kill his family. The same battalion of soldiers burnt Saw Kwa’s house down. Saw Kwa and his family had fled to a hiding place, which had a small amount of food, before the soldiers destroyed their house and their belongings. Saw Kwa, who has lived as an IDP in the jungle since 1997, said “In the past, the Burmese army never come to this area so I grew rice paddy and lived with my family. But, on November 20th, 2005, Burmese soldiers arrived here and killed one villager (Saw See Praw) and burnt down my house including three baskets of sticky rice, and everything in the house. They took my guitar and cassette. I think I would not build my house again. I will only build a small hut beside my paddy field.”
The Burmese military government profess that the army does not target IDPs, but this is not true. If soldiers in the Burmese Army find people hiding they are suppose to call the people and bring them safely to the village. But most of the time this does not happen. Saw Thah See, a 23-year old Karen man, retells the story when the Burmese Army came to the IDP area where he was living with his family. “When I went to toilet, I heard the gun shots. I saw the Burmese army shoot my house in the paddy field. My family was in the house. My father Saw Thaw See, 45 years old, and my 11-year-old sister Naw Mee Kwee were killed. My mother was shot in her legs. The soldiers forced nine men and 12 women, including my injured mother, to go to the village. When they reached the village the soldiers released all the women, but along the way they killed the nine men.”
The KNU area leader said that in addition to killing 11 people, including Saw That See’s father and sister, on July 10th last year, the soldiers, led by Captain Win Naing, also “destroyed 200 paddy baskets and they took all the money from every house”. They do not know how much money was taken from each house, but one house lost 100,000 kyat.
The KNU leader of this area said the situation for the IDPs is difficult because the Burmese Army can arrest or kill them. He said if we compare living in the jungle as an IDP with living in a forced relocation site, we have more freedom when we live in the jungle. In a forced relocation site, the people can go out only a few hours, and if they go out too much and take a long time, the soldiers accuse the people of contacting the KNU and hit them.
Inside the Forced Relocation Site
Life inside forced relocation sites is also hard. The villagers in forced relocation sites are under the complete control of the Burmese Army. Villagers have to live in places the army forces them to and do the work they are ordered to. The soldiers torture, kill and rape the people. The villagers cannot reply or protest against the treatment. They can only say yes and accept it.
Last year three villagers in a forced relocation site were killed by the Burmese soldiers. Naw Baw Baw (names have been changed) said that in October the Burmese troops went to the frontline to fight the KNU. Some of the soldiers got injured. They could not find the KNU so, when they came back to the village, they shot one missile and called a meeting for every man from the village. All the women and children had to stay in their own houses. The soldiers interrogated the men, demanding to know why they did not inform them about the KNU’s news. Naw Baw Baw’s 17-year-old son was not at the meeting, he was at the river taking a bath with his friends.
Another woman from the same village, Naw Wah, continues the story saying “When they had a meeting, we had to stay in the house. My nephew and his friends didn’t know the Burmese army was having a meeting so they went to take a bath in the river. My nephew has been living with me since he was a child and his name is Saw Maw Dee. He was 17 years old. He went to take a bath with his best friends, and since that day they have not been seen. We could not hear their cries, but other villagers did. We did not hear any gun shots. In my thoughts, they were tortured before they were killed. The soldiers told us to stay in our houses. We could not go out and get paddy from the field, take care of our animals, or go to take a bath. We had to stay in our own house.”
Villagers under Burmese army control have to pay arbitrary taxes and work whenever the troops order them. This is true for every village. In addition the villagers have to ask permission to go to their fields. Some villagers do not get permission and they cannot go out and harvest their paddy so they can not grow enough food to feed their families. To buy food, they borrow money from their neighbours and then they get into debt.
These are the true experiences of the people. We cannot choose the place we are born and so we cannot decide what hardships in life we will face. When you have no country, your belongings (land, house and money) go missing and your mind, body and soul is always changing because you are never sure that you are a human being. Even if you are a human, your life is the same as an animal.
*Interviews for this article were gathered by BI Video project staff.
To go to the other articles published in the January 2006 BI Newsletter click on the links below:
