Junta troops kill monks

Junta troops kill monks

Human Rights

Two monks in the southern township of Kunhing were shot dead by a Burmese patrol on 29 March, said Shan refugees arriving recently in Chiangmai. 

The two were U Uttama, 83, of Mon descent and one of his novices, Sanglong Kaw, 43. Their monastery was at Htam Loikong (Mount Hollow Cave), 1-1/2 mile northwest of the township seat. 

According to Sanglong Kaw who died at the hospital and another novice who survived the shootings, the perpetrators were Captain Than Naing Oo and his 20-men patrol from Infantry Battalion 246. "I recognized the Captain, because he often visited the temple," the villagers quoted him as saying. 

The patrol was said to have arrived at the temple at 04:30 before the break of dawn. They started shooting without provocation and the monk died on the spot, they said. He had been there only for 4 years and 9 months. 

A few days after his funeral, the village elders were summoned by the commander of the battalion. "We were flabbergasted when he said the army would say nothing about the killing of monks that was committed by the Shan rebels," recalled a villager. 

Rangoon's press conference held on 10 May, identified the abbot as U Pandita, 66, and the date of the killing as 24 March. 

Junta officials also accused the rebels of shooting 11 farmers, killing 4 and wounding 4 on 29 April at Naungpan in the same township. A source from the Shan State Army "North", a ceasefire group with one of its brigades in Kunhing, however, dismissed the report altogether. "Everyone, including those wounded and those that survived the attack, knows it was the Army that shot at them," he said. "But as the witnesses are still under detention by the Army, it will be difficult to prove." 

The connection between the SSA "North" and the SSA "South" of Col Yawdserk has been a tricky situation for both groups. "If the 7th Brigade (Kali, Kunhing Township) is not assisting Yawdserk," one Burmese officer was said to have raged, "how come he is surviving all our onslaughts?" 
The SSA "South" had offered to sign a ceasefire pact with Rangoon an arrangement identical to other groups, including the Wa, but was rejected by the junta that insisted Yawdserk "could only surrender."