SHRF MONTHLY REPORT - JULY 2006

COMMENTARY
        As indoctrinated by the leadership, authorities of the Burmese military junta are apparently of the opinion that they are the lord of the land and virtually everything in Shan State belongs to them, and the indigenous peoples are only encroachers who are obliged to compensate for staying on and using the land owned by them.
        The said opinion appears to be one of the factors that is encouraging the SPDC troops not only to force people to work for them and take whatever they like from them , but also to arrest, detain, beat and torture people as if they were their enemies.
        While forced labour, robbery and extortion by the SPDC troops in Shan State have been daily occurrences, arrest, detention, beating and torture have also been taking place very frequently, if not on a daily basis.
        Villagers who filed a complaint about their bamboo having been stolen by SPDC troops were scolded and beaten by a military commander who also said that all the natural resources belonged to the military and the villagers had no right to complain about it.
        Arbitrary killing and rape have also been often taking place in areas patrolled by SPDC troops. A mentally unstable man was shot dead in his village and a cow trader was robbed of his money and beaten to death.
        A woman was gang-raped during a raid on her village by SPDC troops who were demanding and rounding up the villagers’ chickens.
        Several other incidents in which many villagers were arrested, detained, beaten and tortured are also reported in this month’s issue.

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A PALAUNG VILLAGER SHOT DEAD IN MURNG-NAI
        In February 2006, a patrol of SPDC troops from LIB564 shot dead a villager of Nam Mae Haai, a Palaung village, in Kun Mong village tract, Murng-Nai township, at his house even before they knew who he was.
        On 10 February 2006, a patrol of about 40 SPDC troops from LIB564, led by Capt. Lin Sein, came to Nam Mae Haai village and, after surrounding it, some of the troops ran into the village as if to shoot at anyone they found.
        A Palaung villager, Ai Zing (m), aged 27, who was on the porch of his stilt-house at the time saw the SPDC troops come running into the village and was frightened and slipped down one of the posts to the ground. As he reached the ground, one of the SPDC troops saw him and shot at him.
        A bullet hit Ai Zing in the nape of the neck and came out through his mouth, and he fell down dead right at the foot of the post. The SPDC troops then came to look at him and declared that they had shot dead a Shan rebel.
        When the village leaders explained to the SPDC troops that Ai Zing was not a Shan soldier but a villager of Nam Mae Haai who was somewhat mentally unstable, they said nothing but simply left the village and continued their patrol.
        The Palaung villagers were too afraid of the SPDC troops to complain about them. They quietly buried the remains of Ai Zing and conducted a funeral rite for him in accordance with their traditions.

A CATTLE TRADER BEATEN TO DEATH, ROBBED OF HIS MONEY, IN NAM-ZARNG
        Sometime in late 2005, a cattle trader was arrested and later robbed of his money and beaten to death by a patrol of SPDC troops from LIB248, in the area of Wan Nawng and Kung Mong villages, in Wan Nawng village tract, Nam-Zarng township.
        Zaai Kan-Na (m), from Pa Hok village in Wan Paeng village tract, Nam-Zarng township, was going to buy cattle in Wan Nawng village tract when he was stopped and searched by a patrol of SPDC troops from LIB248.
        When the troops found 200,000 kyat of money, they accused Zaai Kan-Na of trying to buy rice for the Shan soldiers and arrested him. They interrogated him and detained him at Kung Mong village, with his hands tied up with a rope.
        When Zaai Kan-Na’s elder brother heard the news, he came and pleaded with the SPDC troops to release Zaai Kan-Na, explaining about his brother’s livelihood and that the money would only be used to buy cattle.
        But the SPDC troops did not listen to his brother and took Zaai Kan-Na out of Kung Mong village away with them. The next day, his brother heard that Zaai Kan-Na was beaten to death by the SPDC troops who had taken him away.
        According to the local people, after that incident, many cattle traders in the area abandoned their job and tried other means of livelihood or fled to other places, and almost no one dared to become new cattle traders.
        Another reason that discouraged people from trading in cattle was the unreasonably high taxes levied by the SPDC troops, said the local people. The traders, if they were not otherwise abused, were required to pay taxes almost as much as the value of the cattle, leaving them virtually no profits.

GANG-RAPE DURING ROBBERY IN LAI-KHA
        In March 2006, a woman was gang-raped by a group of SPDC troops from IB64 who were robbing villagers of their chickens at Wan Naa village in Paang Saang village tract, Lai-Kha township.
        On 6 March 2006, a patrol of about 36 SPDC troops from IB64, led by Capt. Soe Min, came to Wan Naa village and spread out into the village in several groups of 3-4 soldiers to round up as many chickens of the villagers as they could.
        One of the groups, comprising 3 SPDC soldiers with one having a stripe on each of the sleeves of his uniform, came to a house where Naang Awng (not her real name), aged 19, was staying alone, her husband and parents having gone to work at their remote farm.
        The soldiers asked to see the head of the house to demand chickens. But when they learned Naang Awng was alone, they looked at each other and simultaneously seized her, dragged her into the inner room of the house and raped her.
        One of the soldiers held her down by the hands and another one gagged her with a piece of cloth while the third one raped Naang Awng. The 3 SPDC soldiers changed places and took turns to rape her until all of them were satisfied.
        After the SPDC troops left the house, Naang Awng immediately went to the village headman and recounted her plight, and they both complained about it to the commander of the SPDC patrol who actually arrested the 3 soldiers Naang Awng pointed out as her attackers.
        However, apart from the news that the 3 soldiers were put in jail in their camp for their offence by their commander, the victim received nothing as compensation and there did not seem to be any kind of legal processes.
        Although Naang Awng was able to recognize and point out the 3 soldiers who had raped her, she did not know their names.

VILLAGERS BEATEN FOR COMPLAINING ABOUT ROBBERY IN LOI-LEM
        In March 2006, 2 villagers of Ho Nam village in Ho Nam village tract, Loi-Lem township, who went to complain about their bamboo having been forcibly taken by SPDC troops of IB9, were scolded and beaten with a bamboo stick by a commander at the base of IB9.
        On 28 February 2006, SPDC troops from IB9 came to Ho Nam village and cut and took away one truckload of bamboo belonging to villagers of Ho Nam village without asking permission or even telling the owners.
        On 1 March 2006, 2 villagers who had been robbed of their bamboo went to their friend, Zaai Hak, who was an official at the Land Survey Department and asked him to help them lodge a complaint with the military authorities, and they together went to the IB9 base.
        At the military base, Zaai Hak went into an office building to talk to the military authorities while the 2 villagers, Lung Thun (m), aged 47 and Saw-Zing (m), aged 39, waited outside in a parade ground in front of the office.
        After a short while, Zaai Hak came out of the office with commander Soe Lwin, who had 3 stars on each of his shoulders, leading the way. As they got near the waiting 2 villagers, the commander stopped and said to Zaai Hak, “You stay here and keep quiet. This has nothing to do with you”.
        The commander then walked closer to the 2 villagers and scolded them, “Who do you think you are? Don’t ever come and make any such complaints again. We will do whatever we like with the resources on land and in water that belong to us”. Saying thus, he ordered one of his soldiers to bring a stick among a pile of bamboo that had been taken from the villagers.
        Wielding a one-yard-long bamboo stick in his hand, the commander ordered the 2 villagers to stand straight at attention and harshly beat them 3 times each on the back with the bamboo stick, and ordered them to leave the military compound. It was about 10 o’clock in the morning.

COMMUNITY LEADER SEVERELY BEATEN UP IN LAI-KHA
        In February 2006, a 60-year-old village tract leader was severely beaten up by a patrol of SPDC troops from LIB515, at a place near Paang Saang village in Paang Saang village tract, Lai-Kha township.
        On 2 February 2006, a patrol of about 45 SPDC troops from LIB515, led by Maj. Then Htut, came to Paang Saang village in Paang village tract and ordered the village tract leader, Kan-Da-Ma, aged 60, to go with their patrol.
        When they reached a place about 1/2 mile east of Paang Saang village, the commander ordered the patrol to stop for a while. The commander then sat down at a place and called the village tract leader, Kan-Da-Ma, to come and sit near him.
        The commander then asked Kan-Da-Ma about the situation and movements of Shan soldiers in the area. He said he knew there were Shan soldiers in the area and their commander’s name was Murng Zern, and he wanted to know where they were, including the names of Murng Zern’s wife and children and where they lived.
        The headman said that villagers sometimes saw Shan soldiers passing through the area, but he did not know where they stayed or camped, and he also did not know whether Murng Zern had wife and children, where they lived and what their names were.
        The commander kept repeating the same questions several times and the headman only gave the same answers until the commander accused him of lying and ordered a soldier to beat him with a stick on the back 3 times, and continued the interrogation.
        As the headman kept repeating the same answers, the commander became angry and kicked him in the chest, sending him to the ground on his back, and beat him with a stick several times on his thighs and arms, and ordered him to return to his village.
        Kan-Da-Ma managed to stagger back to his village. But it was several weeks of traditional treatment before he could go about his work again, and he did not know where to lodge a complaint about his plight, nor dared to.

A COMMUNITY LEADER ARRESTED, TORTURED, USED AS GUIDE AND EXTORTED IN KUN-HING
        In December 2005, a village tract leader of Ho Yaan village tract in Kun-Hing township was arrested, tied up, put in stocks for several hours and forced to serve as a guide by SPDC troops from LIB362, and later forced to provide a pig and a Buddha statue for his release.
        In the morning of 12 December 2005, a patrol of SPDC troops from LIB362 came to Ho Yaan village tract and arrested a man they found on the way, whom they suspected to be a Shan soldier because he was wearing old camouflage military fatigues, and brought him to the house of the village tract headman.
        But the headman knew the man and told the SPDC troops that he was not a Shan soldier but a cattle trader. The SPDC troops then searched the man and found some money, and accused him of working either as a money collector or an informer for the Shan resistance.
        As the SPDC troops were about to tie up the man and take him away to be imprisoned, the headman again intervened and pleaded for his release, guaranteeing his being an innocent villager who was just going around to buy cattle, and eventually the troops let the man go.
        After a few hours, at about noon on the same day, the same SPDC troops came back and called the headman out of his house and arrested him with no apparent reason. The SPDC troops tied his hands up behind him and forced the headman to go with the patrol.
        When the SPDC troops stopped during the night, they put the headman in bamboo stocks until morning. The next day, the headman was released but was forced to serve as a guide and lead the patrol to Taad Long waterfall and then to Wan Lao village tract.
        During that time, several other village tract leaders in the township pleaded with the authorities at IB246 for the release of the headman of Ho Yaan village tract because he had done nothing wrong, and IB246 sent a wire to the LIB362 patrol about it.
        On receiving the wire, the patrolling troops said they would release the headman but the villagers would have to buy them a pig, and an ancient Buddha statue as a present for them to take back to their base. The pig for the SPDC troops was said to have cost the villagers 105,000 kyat.

A VILLAGER BEATEN AND USED AS GUIDE-PORTER, VILLAGERS ROBBED OF THEIR PROPERTY, IN LAI-KHA
        In late 2005, a villager was arrested, interrogated and beaten, and forced to be a guide and carry a bag of rice by a patrol of SPDC troops from IB64 who also forcibly took what they wanted from the villages they passed through, in Nawng Kaw village tract, Lai-Kha township.
        On 29 November 2005, a patrol of SPDC troops from IB64 came to Paang Ae village in Nawng Kaw village tract and spread out into the village to search for pigs and chickens, and arrested a man, aged about 18 (name unknown), they found in the village.
        The man was forced to go with the patrol for about 2 hours and was interrogated when the SPDC troops stopped for a rest. The man was asked about the situation and movements of the Shan soldiers in the area of which he denied having any knowledge.
        After repeating the questions and getting the same answers, one of the SPDC troops harshly slapped the man 3-4 times and, as he fell down to the ground, 2-3 other troops came and kicked at him at least one time each.
        For about 15 minutes the man could not get up. But when he could actually stand up, the SPDC troops forced him to carry a bag of rice and also serve as a guide. When they reached Ho Khaai village, the troops again spread out and seized as many chickens and pigs they could catch.
        The SPDC troops also forcibly took about 1 basket of husked rice collectively from the villagers of Kung Ling village, and seized 2 pigs at Saam Seng village during the said patrol.

A CIVILIAN GUIDE-PORTER SEVERELY TORTURED AND BEATEN UP IN KUN-HING
        In late 2005, a villager of Wan Lao village in Wan Lao village tract, Kun-Hing township, was severely tortured and beaten up while being forced to serve as a guide and porter by a patrol of SPDC troops from IB246, in Ho Yaan village tract, Kun-Hing township.
        Sometime in October-November 2005, a patrol of about 90 SPDC troops from IB246, led by commander Aung Soe, came to Wan Lao village and conscripted a villager, Phaw-Ka (m), aged 30, to serve as a guide.
        As they left Wan Lao, the SPDC troops ordered Phaw-Ka to carry a bag of rice and told him to lead them to Saai Khaao village tract area. After they had gone a long way, the patrol commander suddenly said that they did not want to go to Saai Khaao anymore, and told Phaw-Ka to lead them to an islet in the Nam Pang river in Ho Yaan village tract.
        Phaw-Ka said to the commander that he should have told him earlier because they had come in the virtually opposite direction and would have to turn back and go a long way to get to the islet. The commander then shouted at Phaw-Ka to shut up and told him to do as ordered.
        When they searched the islet for a while, the SPDC troops found a set of old camouflage military fatigues with no insignia on a bush near a long-abandoned makeshift camp, but with no sign of anyone else on the islet except themselves.
        However, the SPDC troops accused the villagers of failing to inform them that Shan soldiers had been on the islet and vented their anger on Phaw-Ka. They ordered him to tell them where all the Shan soldiers had gone.
        When Phaw-Ka said he did not know, the troops tied him up, beat him and dragged him to Nam Pang river, and forcibly submerged his head in the water until he was nearly drowned and interrogated him.
        After almost an hour of interrogation, the troops left the islet and headed back towards Saai Khaao village tract area where they stopped for the night. Fearing for his life if he stayed with the SPDC troops longer, Phaw-Ka managed to escape during the middle of the night.

ARREST, DETENTION AND TORTURE OF 22 VILLAGERS IN KUN-HING
        In October-November 2005, 22 villagers were arrested by SPDC troops of IB246, detained in the military base for 7 days and nights and interrogated, during which they were also beaten and tortured, in Kun-Hing township.
        The villagers were from Ho Naa village in Ho Yaan village tract, Kun-Hing township, including the village headman who was said to have been severely beaten and tortured until he lost consciousness several times during the course of the detention.
        On 23 October 2005, a patrol of SPDC troops from IB246 came to Ho Naa village and accused the villagers of letting Shan soldiers come to their village and deliberately failing to inform them about it, and arrested the villagers and took them to the military base.
        The villagers, 22 in all, were detained in the military base and interrogated, beaten and tortured every day for 7 days until several other village tract and community leaders came to plead with the SPDC troops for their release, after which they were released a day later.
        According to the local villagers, Ho Naa was a small village with only a little over 20 houses, and they had not heard of Shan soldiers visiting the village for the last several months. Had there been Shan soldiers in area recently, the villagers would have reported it to the SPDC authorities, they said.

TORTURE AND BEATING OF VILLAGERS IN MURNG-KERNG
        Sometime in mid 2005, a villager was tied up and dangled in the air by a group of SPDC troops while several other villagers were slapped and a village headman was struck in the mouth with a rifle butt, which broke 2 of his teeth, at Nawng Khio village in Murng Khun village tract, Murng-Kerng township.
        Zaai Lu (m), aged 20, of Nawng Khio village was at his barn untying his buffalo to take it out for grazing when a group of SPDC troops came into the compound of his house and, on seeing him, came towards him and seized him.
        The SPDC troops said to Zaai Lu, “Where are you going? Are you trying to get away from us?, and forced him into the house and searched the shoulder bag he was carrying. The troops found a packet of rice and a rope in the bag, and asked him where he intended to go.
        When Zaai Lu said he was going to graze his buffalo outside the village, the troops tied the rope they found in the bag around his waist and, putting the other end of the rope over a beam of the house, about 3-4 of them pulled him up until he was dangling in the air and interrogated him.
        When they could not get the answers they wanted, the troops let Zaai Lu down and dangled him again by the ankle and continued to interrogate him. Villagers who came in to plead for mercy on behalf of Zaai Lu were slapped by the soldiers until they retreated out of the house one after another.
        After about 10 villagers had been slapped out of the house, the village headman himself came to plead with the SPDC troops. When they saw the headman, the troops accused him of siding with his villager and slapped him, and as they left one of them struck him in the face with a rifle butt, breaking 2 of his teeth.

SHOOTING AND EXTORTION IN LAI-KHA
        In late 2005, a civilian mini-tractor was shot at and 2 villagers were arrested, and money extorted, by SPDC troops from LIB549 in Paang Saang village tract in Lai-Kha township.
        Two villagers of Paang Saang village in Paang Saang village tract, Lai-Kha township, Pi Kam (m), aged 45 and Nan-Ti (m), aged 30, went to Kung Yer village by a mini-tractor to get their rice husked at a traditional stone rice mill.
        When they returned on their tractor with their husked rice, at one point on the way, they saw from afar a group of soldiers blocking the road ahead of them. Not knowing who they were and what they were about to do, the villagers were afraid and turned their tractor out of the main road and took a different route.
        As the villagers turned their tractor out of the main road, the soldiers saw them and shot at them from afar. The villagers became even more frightened and speeded up their tractor away from the soldiers and escaped back to their village unscathed.
        The soldiers, however, were a patrol of SPDC troops from LIB549, led by Capt. Soe Thein,  and they managed to find out who the villagers were by inquiring at Kung Yer village where they had come to husk their rice.
        The 2 villagers were later arrested at their village by the said SPDC troops for driving their tractor away from them, and were released on the condition that they pay a fine of 150,000 kyat as a punishment within a certain period of time.