Shans who chose to remain arrested

Shans who chose to remain arrested

Villagers who managed to escape from areas recaptured by the Burmese army told S.H.A.N. on Monday (24 June) that many of their neighbors had been taken into custody some of whom were killed in cold blood. 

The principal speaker, Sai Pan, a former officer in the defunct Mong Tai Army, and fellow escapees Khing Pi, Taywing and Sang Awng related how two of their neighbors were shot to death: One, Mayhtar, 36, was cooking at his home, on 18 June, when 3 Burmese soldiers burst into his house and demanded 200 baht from him. When he replied that he had only 15 baht, they said, 'You lie' and shot him to death. His wife, Nang Yong and the 3 children, then fled to Hta Noi which is near Kiu Zangkab, opposite Paeksem Village of Wianghaeng. 

Another one, Zigta, was just shot "without saying a word, just because he wore an old military green shirt without insignias." No one was able to offer more details on him however. 

13 others were tied up and taken outside the village of Hwe Yao on the way to Mongtaw to be executed. Wa fighters they met on the way then asked the Burmese troops to hand over the prisoners to them because they would like interrogate them again. 

"The whole thing was taking place in front of my house," said Sai Pan. "They beat and kicked them. They ordered them to lie down so they could stamp on them with their feet. When Hsengfon, another former officer, replied to their questions that he didn't know anything about the SSA because he had left everything behind since he surrendered in 1996, they retorted: 'It was only your body that surrendered but not your heart' and flogged him again and again." 

Yazing, a former fighter who had lost his left hand, suffered the most, they said. "The Burmese tied him, hanged him at a tamarind tree, beat him and even bayonet his forehead," said Sai Pan. "He was also told to kneel down on a rock and hot water was poured on his head. The sight was really gruesome." 

All the 13 were then driven in a truck to Hwe Aw, 30 miles north of Chiangmai's Chiangdao District border. 
"The Burmese took everything they wanted: pigs, chicken, ducks, motor vehicles and valuables," they said. "What they didn't want, they just wrecked them all." 

Most of those living in the area across Wianghaeng District of Chiangmai were ex-resistance fighters and their families. Their "period of grace" ended after the Shan State Army of Col Yawdserk took the nearby Pang Maisoong Camp on 20 June. 

List of the 13 victims with their approximate age 
1. Hsengfon, 48
2. Poong-nya, 23
3. Zai Yone, 28
4. Hsengharn, 25
5. Ti Lern, 23
6. Hsaikhong, 30
7. Yazing, 43
8. Zai Noong, 43
9. Zai Htarg, 25
10. Khing Jaw, 45
11. Zai Aw, 25
12. Ta Mawng, 24
13. Zai Long, 25