The prolonged civil war in Burma has
been occurring for more than five de
cades now, resulting in an exodus of refugees to neighbouring countries and thousands of internally displaced person (IDPs) hiding within the country, in the worst possible situation.
Despite the fact that Burma’s generals are highly criticized and pressured by the international community to implement reform, it is obvious that there has been no improvement in the country’s human rights situation. The military still uses arms against the ethnic people. Human rights abuses such as forced labour, porters and forced relocation occur often.
These violations cause people from Burma to constantly flee to borderline areas and many stories we hear from grassroots people reveal how hard it is to survive in a country where there is no justice or rule of law.
Last month, about one hundred Karenni villagers from the Shan-Karenni border and Loikaw Township fled to the Thailand because of increased militarization near their villages. There were more human rights abuses following the military’s increased presence in the area.
Among them, a Karenni women, Nan Mu (not her real name), experienced a tragic event that happened to her family when living in Burma. Nan Mu’s husband was killed about four years ago by troops from the Karenni National People’s Liberation Front (KNPLF), a group affiliated with the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). “When he came back from the field, someone sent from the KNPLF came to tell him to go with him. After that, I never saw him alive again.”
Nan Mu’s husband was the chief of the village (every man in the village has to take this position in rotation). The KNPLF took him, interrogate him and after that they shot him dead. They did not give a reason.
“The next morning, other villagers told me that they had heard a gunshot coming from the area where my husband was detained. As soon as I heard that I told my eldest daughter and together we went there to see what has happened. When we arrived there I saw him lying on the ground. His head was covered with blood. He was dead.”
Although her husband has been killed four years ago, there is still no answer for Nan Mu and her children as to why the KNPLF him in such brutal way. He had committed no offense. After her husband passed away, Nan Mu struggled to support her family. Her ten years old daughter had to quit school and help Nan Mu working on the farm.
Unexpectedly, this family faced another tragedy when Nan Mu’s father-in-law, who was 80 years old, was shot dead by a Burmese soldier in June last year. “On that night, he was walking home after visiting his grandchildren when he accidentally run into a drunk Burmese soldier. Without any search or question, the soldier took out his gun and shot him without any mercy,” Nan Mu said.
Even though the soldier had murdered a villager, the military took no action against the culprit claiming that it was just accidental fire.
But Nan Mu’s stories, while tragic, are not unique. Many villagers live a very difficult life under the SPDC and the Tatmadaw. Another story from Karenni woman described her experience with the Burmese army. “The Burmese soldiers detained me when I was about eight month pregnant, together with my two sons who are twelve and three years old after they couldn’t find my husband,” Bel Raree Sen said.
The Burmese troops wanted to arrest Bel Raree Sen’s husband after a clash between SPDC troops and Karenni National People’s Party soldiers took place near Kayan Taryar village. At the time Bel Raree Sen’s husband, U Ta was not in the village. He was working in his paddy field. Because he was not in the village the army accused him of helping the Karenni armed group.
After they can’t find the U Ta, the soldiers arrested his wife and children instead of him and imprisoned them for 15 days. “In the prison, they interrogated me, asking if I knew where my husband was. When questioning me, they slapped my face and hit me with bamboo,” she said.
These are just some Karenni families who managed to escape from life at the military’s gunpoint. Many other villagers still live under the harsh rules of those who they call themselves the guards of the country.
To go to the other articles published in the April 2006 BI Newsletter click on the links below:
