SHRF MONTHLY REPORT

SHRF MONTHLY REPORT -- JULY 2003

COMMENTARY

Even though the successive Burmese military regimes have been denying that they have policies of impunity for their troops in mistreating the civilian populations in Shan State, their behaviour has time and again clearly indicated that they do, especially when treating people they think are members of or have something to do with the Shan resistance. It doesn’t matter whether the mistreated victims really have anything to do with the Shan resistance, the Burmese troops just get away with it, unpunished.

The heading of the first story of this newsletter, “Two pregnant women shot dead, 2 villages burnt down, 17 women detained and raped”, indicates how the SPDC troops have recently cruelly treated the civilian populations in Murng-Sart township even before the villagers knew what they were suspected of having done wrong. The SPDC troops did this to the villagers merely on suspicion of them having connections with or supporting the Shan resistance.

In another development, a village in Murng-Ton township was also suspected of supporting the Shan resistance and forced to move within 3 days.

In another case, a civilian guide who knew many routes well was suspected of having guided the Shan soldiers and executed.

Whether their suspicions were true or false, nothing would ever happen to the SPDC troops. What ever they do, they do it with impunity.

2 PREGNANT WOMEN SHOT DEAD, 2 VILLAGES BURNT DOWN, 17 WOMEN DETAINED AND RAPED, IN MURNG-SART 

On 25 May 2003, 2 Shan villages in Murng Kok village tract, Murng-Sart township, were fired at and burnt down by SPDC troops from IB221, killing 2 pregnant women in the process, and they detained and raped 17 Shan women from the 2 villages for 3 nights.

On the day of the incident, a column of about 60-70 SPDC troops from Murng-Phyak-based IB221 came to Murng Kok village tract in Murng-Sart township. They separated into 2 groups and came to Kho Pen village and Ho Murng village and shouted at the villagers to leave the villages immediately, firing their guns randomly at the houses.

As the SPDC troops were shooting at the houses, 2 pregnant women in Kho Pen village were hit and killed before they could leave their houses. 

After a while, the troops burnt to ashes all the houses in both villages. There were 20 houses in Kho Pen village and 29 houses in Ho Murng village. The villagers from both villages were gathered at a Buddhist temple at Wan Pek village in Murng Lung village tract, Murng-Sart township. 

After the SPDC troops burnt the villages, they came to that temple and picked out 17 women among the villagers who had been gathered there. They accused the women of being the wives and relatives of the Shan soldiers and detained them at the military camp at Murng Kok village. 

At night the women were called out and raped by the SPDC soldiers. Every woman was raped by several soldiers every night in this way for 3 nights during their detention, from 25 to 28 May 2003.

Among the women raped by the SPDC troops, Naang Leng and Naang Mee (not their real names), who were only 15 and 16 years old respectively, suffered so much physically and mentally from the rape that they had to be hospitalized in Kaeng-Tung town. Their conditions were not yet known when this report was received in late June.

On the day the villages were burnt, the village tract leader, Zaai Saam Long, was not there. He had gone to sell a buffalo at Kawng Lom village in Fang Min village tract, Ta-Khi-Laek township. He was arrested on 27 May 2003 by a group of Lahu people’s militia, on the order of the SPDC troops, and handed to the SPDC troops at Murng Lung village in Murng-Sart township.

The villagers at first did not know why they were treated in such a horrible way by the SPDC troops. Only after they were gathered at Wan Pek village temple did they know it was because of the bomb blast between their 2 villages on 21 May 2003, which had wounded 2-3 SPDC troops.

The SPDC troops accused the villagers of siding with the Shan soldiers and of deliberately rigging the bomb to harm them, and retaliated by killing, burning and raping the villagers.
According to the villagers, they had nothing to do with the bomb blast and they had not seen any Shan soldiers in their area for more than 2 years when their villages were burnt.

A NEWLYWED COUPLE OF DISPLACED VILLAGERS SHOT DEAD IN LAI-KHA

On 1 April 2003, a couple who were returning from gathering firewood were shot by SPDC troops from LIB515 on their way back to the relocation site on the outskirts of Lai-Kha town. The wife was instantly killed and the husband died 3 hours later.

The victims, Zaai Pun-Nya (m), aged 20 and Naang Num (f), aged 19, who had been married for less than a year, were originally from Ho Phaai village in Nawng Kaw village tract, Lai-Kha township, which had been relocated to the outskirts of Lai-Kha town in 1997 by the then SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council) troops.

On the day of the incident, the couple went together to gather firewood in the forest and as they were returning, each carrying 2 bundles of firewood on shoulder-poles, they ran into a patrol of about 30 SPDC troops from LIB515, led by Capt. Kyaw Nyeing, on the way back to their relocation site.

Without warning, the SPDC troops shot at them, killing the wife, Naang Num, on the spot. The husband, Zaai Pun-Nya, was hit in the right shoulder and he ran and escaped. Zaai Pun-Nya, however, died of his wound 3 hours after getting back to his house at the relocation site, probably from heavy bleeding.

A CIVILIAN GUIDE BEATEN TO DEATH IN MURNG-TON

On 6 April 2003, a villager forced to serve as a guide was beaten to death by a column of SPDC troops from IB277 and buried in a grave forced to be dug by the guide himself at a place called Loi Hin Kawng southeast of Naa Pa Kaao village in Me Ken village tract Murng-Ton township.

On that day, a column of about 60-70 SPDC troops from IB277, led by Maj. Moe Aung, forcibly conscripted a villager, Zaai Kham Sai (m), aged 31, from Hawng Lin village in Phaa Khe village tract, Murng-Ton township, to be used as a guide.

After Zaai Kham Sai had guided the SPDC troops all day through many hidden paths and shortcuts, they reached Loi Hin Kawng and stopped to rest. Maj. Moe Aung told his troops that Zaai Kham Sai knew all the routes in the area so well that he thought he was a guide used by the Shan soldiers, and ordered his execution.

The SPDC troops took Zaai Kham Sai to a place about 20 yards away from their resting place and forced him to dig his own grave in the ground. The troops then beat him to death with a stick and buried him in the grave.

14 VILLAGERS SHOT DEAD FOR FAILING TO PAY OPIUM TAX IN MURNG-SART

During the early months of 2003, 14 villagers who failed to pay opium tax were sought out and shot dead one after another by SPDC troops from LIB579, in Murng Kok village tract, Murng-Sart township.

In late 2002, the SPDC troops in Murng Kok village tract had forced some villagers to grow opium and required them to pay 1-1/2 viss (1 viss = 1.6 kg) of opium per acre of land used as a tax.

In January 2003, 28 farmers who had been forced to grow opium by the SPDC troops came to the military camp of LIB579 at Murng Kok village and reported to the camp commander, Maj. Aung Kyaw Thu, saying that they could not pay the required tax in full because their opium crop had failed and they could hardly get 1-1/2 viss from even 2-3 acres of land.

The SPDC commander, however, accused the villagers of trying to lie and ordered them to bring the required amount in full no matter how their opium harvest turned out to be. The villagers tried to convince him by inviting him to go and see that in some places even 3-4 acres of land did not produce 1-1/2 viss of opium, but the commander only repeated his order, stood up and walked away.

After 5-6 days, when the villagers had not turned up with the demanded tax, the SPDC troops sought out their houses and shot dead one after another, and 14 had been shot dead that way during January and early February.

The 14 villagers shot dead were all men except for one 9-year-old child:

1. Lung Kya, aged 56
2. Zaai Taan, aged 46
3. Zaai Dip, aged 25
4. Lung Ke, aged 40
5. Zaai Sai, aged 27
6. Zaai Kheng, aged 32
7. Zaai Zaai, aged 9
8. Zaai Oo, aged 27
9. Lung Non, aged 50
10. Zaai Lon, aged 20
11. Zaai Laek, aged 17
12. Zaai Saam, aged 30
13. Lung Law-Kha, aged 40
14. Lung Za-Kha, aged 46

A DISPLACED WOMAN GANG-RAPED IN NAM-ZARNG

On 24 April 2003, a displaced married woman was gang-raped by a group of SPDC soldiers until blood came out of her mouth and she lost consciousness, in a bush just about 20-30 yards out side Nam Tawng Ler village in Kho Lam village tract, Nam-Zarng township.

At about 3:30 p.m. of that day, Naang Kaeng (not her real name), aged 28, was going to their farm outside their village where her husband was working. As she left the village, she ran into a group of SPDC soldiers who grabbed her and dragged her into a bush.

Because it was so sudden and some of them covered her face and mouth with their hands when she tried to shout, she did not know how many of them and from which unit they were, but she was sure they were SPDC troops.

The SPDC troops gang-raped Naang Kaeng until blood came out of her nose and mouth and she lost consciousness. She was found by her husband and relatives and carried back to her house and later sent to the hospital in Nam-Zarng town.

BEATING, TORTURE, HOSTAGE-TAKING AND EXTORTION IN TA-KHI-LAEK

On 16 April 2003, 4 potato farmers were beaten, tortured and kept hostage, and money was extorted from them by SPDC troops from LIB316 at their farm in Nam Kherm village tract, Ta-Khi-Laek township.

The 4 farmers, Lung Pan (m), aged 46, Zaai In Kham (m), aged 34, Zaai Laa (m), aged 34 and Zaai Non (m), aged 32, were all from Nam Wan village in Nam Kherm village tract, Ta-Khi-Laek township.

On that day, at about 2:00 p.m., the farmers were resting in a hut after doing some weeding at their jointly owned potato farm when a patrol of 7 SPDC troops from Ta-Lur-based LIB316 came and told them to pay ‘tax’, either 5,000 Thai baht or 100,000 Burmese kyat.

When the farmers refused, the SPDC troops ordered them at gun point to stand in line and slapped them 5-6 times each, and ordered them to squat down and stand up 100 times.

Lung Pan collapsed from exhaustion and passed out before he could complete 100 times.

The troops then threatened the farmers that they would lock them up at the military base until their relatives came and paid the tax or, if they did not want to be jailed, they could pay 1,000 baht each immediately.

After some begging and bargaining, the SPDC troops agreed to accept 600 baht from each farmer. But because they did not have the money, one of the farmers, Zaai Laa, had to go back to their village, while the other 3 were being kept hostage, and borrow the money from their relatives to pay the troops.

ARREST, TORTURE, DETENTION, EXTORTION AND FORCED RELOCATION IN MURNG-TO

On 20 May 2003, the village headman of Paang Keng village in Murng-Ton township was arrested and the village was forced to relocate by the SPDC troops in the area.

Early in the morning of that day, Zin-Ta, the village headman of Paang Keng village in Phaa Khe village tract, Murng-Ton township, was arrested and taken away by SPDC troops from IB225.

Following the arrest of the village headman, in the afternoon, a column of about 60-70 SPDC troops from IB65, led by commander Hla Myint, came to Paang Keng village and asked to meet the headman, and the villagers told them that the headman had been taken away by IB225 since 5 o’clock in the morning.

When commander Hla Myint made some inquiries, IB225 denied having arrested the headman. The villagers insisted that it was them because they all knew Sgt. Than Lwin, who came and arrested the headman, was from IB225. But IB225 again denied this, saying Sgt. Than Lwin had been away at a training for 2 months.

Commander Hla Myint then said that it had to be Shan soldiers who had taken away the headman and accused Paang Keng village of being one of the villages supporting the Shan resistance forces, and ordered the villagers to move away within 3 days, starting from 21 May 2003.

The movement was to be completed by the morning of 23 May 2003. From the afternoon of that day onwards, anyone found in the village would be shot on sight, said the order.

When the headman was arrested by the SPDC troops from IB225, he was first taken to his farm and interrogated, and beaten and tortured, and then taken to the military base and detained for 15 days.

The headman’s family and relatives were told to bring 50,000 baht of Thai money for his release. After some begging and bargaining, the SPDC troops accepted 20,000 baht and a cow for his release.

A VILLAGE FORCED TO MOVE, IN MURNG-PAN

In early 2003, villagers of Wan Mai Tin Loi village in Murng-Pan township, was ordered to move away by the SPDC military authorities of LIB332.

At the end of 2002, SPDC troops from LIB332, led by commander Htun Myint, stationed at Loi Waw Ma hill in Murng-Pan township, summoned the village leaders of Wan Mai Tin Loi village to a meeting at the military camp.

In the meeting, the SPDC commander told the village leaders that there was an order from above to relocate their village in order to deploy more SPDC troops in the area, and ordered the villagers to start moving out in early 2003.

“So, you must start moving out at the beginning of 2003. After you have all moved out, we will bring in more troops to set up another stronghold at your old village”, said the commander.
Since then, the villagers left the village little by little to different directions and have become internally displaced. Some of them, however, have already made it to Thailand.

Since April 2003, the SPDC troops have started to build a new military stronghold at the relocated village and people in the area are being used in the construction work.

ROBBERY AND INTIMIDATION BY SPDC TROOPS DISGUISED AS SHAN SOLDIERS, IN NAM-ZARNG

On 17 April 2003, 3 SPDC troops disguised as Shan soldiers robbed the village headman of Kung Sa village in Wan Nawng Kung Mong village tract, Nam-Zarng township, of 200,000 kyat of money and threatened to come back and kill the headman and his family if they told people about it.

During that time, a column of SPDC troops from Loi-Kaw-based LIB102 was on an operation and was temporarily stationed at Wan Nawng Kung Mong. On 17 April, a patrol of about 30 SPDC troops departed from the main column to patrol the area and stopped for the night at Ho Ter Kung Keng in Wan Nawng Kung Mong village tract.

During the night, 3 SPDC troops from the said patrol, wearing civilian clothes, 2 carrying guns and 1 carrying a knife, forced a villager of Ho Ter Kung Keng to lead them to Kung Sa village in the same village tract. They left Ho Ter village at about 9 p.m. and reached Kung Sa at about 10 p.m.. 

When the troops saw there was a religious ceremony in Kung Sa village and quite a few people around, they leased the villager from Ho Ter they had taken as a guide and told one of the Kung Sa villagers to take them to the headman’s house.

As they got to the headman’s house, the SPDC troops said they were Shan soldiers who had been newly assigned to the area and demanded from the headman 200,000 kyat of money as a ‘tax’ immediately.

When the headman said he did not have that much money, the SPDC troops tied him up and threateningly shot their guns in the house about 20 times. The headman’s wife then borrowed money from their neighbours and gave the troops the demanded 200,000 kyat. As they left, the troops warned the headman’s family not to tell anyone about them taking money, or they would come back and kill them all.

When the villagers knew by word of mouth that it was SPDC troops who had robbed them of their money, they lodged a complaint with the SPDC military authorities at Wan Nawng Kung Mong and were promised the case would be looked into.

On 30 April 2003, the commander of LIB102 told the headman and his deputy to ride a logging truck to the Tactical Command at Ton Hung village in Kaeng Tawng area of Murng-Nai township to get back their money. However, the villagers were only given back half of the money on 2 May 2003 and were told that the troops who had stolen the money had been executed and half of the money had gone with them.

EXTORTION IN TA-KHI-LAEK

Since April 2003, people in Ta-Khi-Laek township are being forced to buy China-made electricity metre boxes from Wai Family Electrical Production and Supplies Co. Ltd. by the township SPDC authorities at unreasonably high prices.

In April 2003, Wai Family Co. announced that starting from May it would be solely supplying electricity 24-hours-a-day and required the people in Ta-Khi-Laek who wanted to use electricity to buy China-made metre boxes from it at the following prices:

- 5 A (ampere) metre box = 30,000 baht
- 10 A metre box = 35,000 baht
- 20 A metre box = 40,000 baht
- 30 A metre box = 60,000 baht
- 50 A metre box = 80,000 baht
- 60 A metre box = 100,000 baht

The price of the electricity would be 8 baht per unit and everyone was required to buy new metre boxes from the Wai Family Co., including those who already had metre boxes, if they wanted the electricity.

People have been complaining, especially those who already possessed well functioning metre boxes, that it was a kind of extortion by the SPDC authorities to force people to buy metre boxes at such high prices.

MOVEMENTS RESTRICTED AS MORE LAND CONFISCATED IN MURNG-NAI

Since the beginning of 2003, as the new 5 SPDC military battalions in Kaeng Tawng area of Murng-Nai township have been confiscating more and more land in the area for military use, it has become more and more difficult for the local people to find land for cultivation and gather firewood from the forests.

In January 2003, the SPDC military authorities in Kaeng Tawng area summoned all the village and village tract headmen to a meeting at the military base at Ton Hung village and told them that all the 5 military battalion bases in the area would expand to cover more land adjacent to them.

The military base at Ton Hung village would expand 1-1/2 miles to the south and the base at Ta Kun village would be expanded 2 miles to the east and south. The base at Pa Saa village would expand 3 miles to the east and the base at Waeng Kao village 5 miles to the west. The base at Kun Mong would be expanded 3 miles to the north.

Even though the military bases had not yet been actually expanded, all the land mentioned had been designated as military property, and an order was issued to the headmen to tell their respective villagers not to farm or cut wood or gather firewood, etc., in the land.

Since then many local people could no more cultivate land close to their villages nor gather firewood in nearby forests, but have to go to distant places to farm and/or gather firewood.