Slash and burn tactics: the regime's old habits die hard
Last December, several villagers ranging in age from 12 to 60 were ordered by the Burmese Army to sit all day in the hot sun in a nearby field, says a villager from Ywar Thit, Southern part of Ye township.
He added that local people from 15 villages from an area in which the SPDC continues to launch a relentless military operation against the Mon armed group (Hongsawatoi Restoration Party) were forced to sit motionless under the hot burning sun from early morning to the late evening.
"We are not allowed to even drink water, let alone eat," he said. Villagers must porter on a daily basis and are deployed as human shields in the BA’s frontline offensive.
Another villager from Krein Kanyar village, who recently arrived to the border area after attempting to enter Thailand, says his people are routinely and harshly discriminated against by the SPDC troops because they can't speak the Burmese language.
"A SPDC sergeant shouts at us that we are like animals and that we deserve to be treated as such," he added.
Some villagers suspected as rebel sympathizers are brutally tortured then locked up in the detention center.
Suspects deemed rebel sympathizers are immediately punished by the troops who put razor blades into the mouths of their victims and then are beaten on the check repeatedly", said a woman from Yung Dean Village. An elderly couple, the parent’s in-law of rebel leader Nai Bin, were beaten and locked up in the detention center.
"Women fled into the dense jungle when the SPDC troops spread into their village area because they were afraid of being tortured or raped. A 60-year-old woman narrowly escaped to Halockhanee Mon Refugee Camp from southern Ye after witnessing the SPDC troops pillaging, attacking, and the burning of six houses close to her house.
To inflict a sense of hopelessness the BA army consistently intimidates the locals into submission, three Buddhist monks from three villages; Khaw Zar, Krein Kanyar and Mi Taw Hlar Kyi were burned severely all over the body. It is felt by many that situation like this in which monks are tortured is considered a violent atrocity in a Buddhist country.
Ever since the SPDC launched its cat and mouse operation against the armed Mon splinter group on December 13 up until to the present time, they have been unsuccessful in totaling eliminating the group because the rebels know where to hide, to run, and how to survive.
Unlike the insurgents though, the civilians have nowhere to hide and suffer the most from the random violence and are constantly targeted; the people from those areas are prohibited from going to their farms and from leaving their village. They face constant danger at the hands of troops and suffer hardship in terms of basic survival needs when uprooted from their own villages without warning. They must also provide various taxes on command to the Burmese troops. The BA extorts taxes depending on the level of the family income, which varies from 4,000, 6,000 and 7,000 kyats (Burmese currency).
A woman from Yung Dean Village reported 20 men from her village were forced to work for and guard the BA troops to protect them against an insurgent ambush and were also deployed as emergency porters. Meanwhile the villagers’ cattle died because their owners were unable to feed and care for them.
Various acts of human rights violations
According to the sources from the New Mon State Party and outlined in a document, over 25 people were tortured and a hundred people from where the army patrolled were ordered to sit in the hot sun all day.
Some villagers were hung up in trees and some were threatened with knives to their throats or to their mouths. Soldiers shoved guns in faces and blew them off close to the victim’s ears, some were burned and maimed, some suffered the full brunt of the weapons and were brutally cut up with knives to their faces, ears, and bodies and some were ordered to dig their own graves.
On the first of January, 2004, hundreds of Kwan Ta-moy Tao-Tak villagers were ordered to stay in the hot sun after the Radio Free Asia (RFA) broadcasted human rights abuses in the village the document claimed.
Nai Win, Nai Myint, Ye Min Paing, Goke, Shwe Ba, Nai Shwe Win, Nai Min Ong, two Buddhist monks, Nai Pha Ong and Nai Pok and other villagers from Ham Gam, Khaw Zar, Krone Kanya, Mi Taw Hlar Doat, Kaw Hlain, Yong Rear and Chang Gu villages were tortured throughout the months of December and January.
Burma Army Battalions responsible for attacks on the Mon population
Five battalions of Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No.31, IB 591, IB 586, LIB No.97, LIB No. 61, under Coastal Command and; four battalions of LIB 282, 273, IB 408 and IB 409 under Southeast command operated in this area since last December 10, the document paper said.
Colonel Myo Win from the Moulmein (Mawlamyaing) based Southeast Command’s Military Strategy No. 3 led this brutal operation.
Even at times when the guerrillas commit no military action, in which hard fighting rarely takes place during the military operation, various human rights violations continue to be committed by the Burmese soldiers on a continual basis, in spite of the ruling junta’s negotiated ceasefire deal.
The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) incessantly collects money through illegal means. The local Mon villagers must pay money between one and two hundred thousand Kyat to the military and are often tortured following arrest for alleged support to rebel supporters.
According to the sources from Mon Relief and Development Committee, thousands of people from the area moved to other places as internally displaced persons and others to refugee camps. With no other choice open to them, some with connections to human traffickers went to Thailand on loan, human trafficking now a worldwide global problem.
Record of Torture
The troops of Burma Army LIB No. 97 dumped water onto the head of Secretary of Kaw Hlaing village for about 5 hours after being accused as a rebel supporter. They forced his head into the water and held it there until he started to suffocate for air, he suffered breathing difficulty during the interrogation, and he was forced to sleep in his wet clothes.
13-12-2003, the BA ordered the Krein Kanyar villagers to stay in the hot sun throughout the whole day including women.
13-12-2003 Nai Myint, Ye Min Paing, Youl, Gake and three other men were detained at the temple and were not allowed to drink and eat anything. Their families tried to bribe the troops between 100,000- 200,000, which they lost, because their family members were still not released.
19-12-2003 Six villagers from (Han Gam), southern Ye were accused of having contact with rebels and were subsequently tortured. Bribes between 100,000 - 200,000 were offered, but they were not released; the troops stopped torturing them after paying bribes.
22-12-2003 A Buddhist monk Rev. Pha Ong from Khaw Zar Village was hung up in trees by the Burma Army LIB 97 after being forced to disrobe and accused as a rebel supporter.
23-12-2003 Another monk Rev. Nai Pok from Mi Taw Hlar Doat was put in a hole in the ground by the troops led by Colonel Myo Win. Half of his body was covered with the soil. The Burmese soldier opened fire close to his ear after being threatened and was forcibly disrobed.
22-12-2003 Nai Shwe Ba, the head of Koe Mine village was tortured and detained because he was accused as rebel supporter.
24-12-2003 Many villagers from Yong Rear were ordered to sit under the hot sun from 10:00 to 12:00 before the meeting. They were then threatened at the gathering that they would be killed if they support the rebels.
24-12-2003 BA 565 ordered most of Kwan Ta-Moy Tao-Tak villagers to stay under the sun because the SPDC military junta heard the news that rebels were just outside the village area. The village headman Nai Tin was beaten and suffered from a head injury and his ear was cut with a knife and then severely tortured. Secretary Nai Yone and Nai Nyan Shwe were also treated in the same manner.
30-12-2003 IB 586 tortured Nai Shwe Win and Nai Min Ong. People bribed the IB 586 to get less torture. (Yong Dean village, southern Ye)
1-1-2004 IB 586 tortured Nai Win, Han Gam village for using ICOM telephone.
2-1-2004 IB 586 put most of Kwan Ta-Moy Tao-Tak villagers under the hot sun for the whole day after RFA (Radio Free Asia based at Washington D.C, USA) broadcasted that human rights violations were committed by the Burmese Army in their village. The army intention is to intimate and frighten villagers not to inform about the abuses inflicted upon them.
8-1-2004 Colonel Myo Win ordered village authorities of Chang
Gu, Tao-Tak, Han Gam and Kaw Hlaing villages to build toilets (dig toilet holes).
