Peasants’ Day celebrity pardons

The junta released five celebrities who had been previously jailed for their anti-military and anti-coup resistance to mark Peasants’ Day on Wednesday, continuing their habit of issuing pardons on national holidays. Though the day is ostensibly meant to recognise the vital role of the country’s farmers or “peasants”, who make up the majority of the population, March 2 also marks the date of the coup launched by Ne Win in 1962. Film stars Pyay Ti Oo, Eaindra Kyaw Zin, Lu Min and Paing Takhon were all pardoned, according to a notice in state media, while charges were dropped against film director Wyne. The junta justified the releases by claiming that these five individuals could help with “nation-building with their art”. Successive military dictatorships have used the arts in Myanmar as a form of propaganda. The notice also said incitement charges were dropped against beauty blogger Win Min Than, but both The Irrawaddy and Myanmar Now report she still faces unlawful association charges. Actor Ye Taik’s lawyer told Myanmar Now his incitement charges were also dropped, but he still faces drug charges, although he wasn’t mentioned in the state media announcement.

Paing Takhon was arrested in April when around 50 soldiers arrived at his Yangon home in eight military trucks, according to a post on his sister’s Facebook account. He had reportedly returned from Karen National Union territory after falling seriously ill. Similar to Pyay Ti Oo and Eaindra Kyaw Zin, he had received a three-year prison sentence in late December under section 505-A of the Penal Code. However, his lawyer confirmed to Myanmar Now on Wednesday that he had “arrived back at his home” and all five of those released were also home and “in good health.” His lawyer also said that he hadn’t been forced to sign a pledge in exchange for his pardon. Many of those whom the junta have pardoned or released early have been forced to sign a pledge denouncing the resistance movement and promising not to engage in future protests. Eaindra Kyaw Zin’s sister also wrote on Facebook that she and her husband were back home and healthy. Lu Min was arrested three weeks after the coup and Wyne was arrested last month. It’s unclear why the junta chose to release those five celebrities yesterday, though, as is often the case with the junta, these celebratory pardons are transparently used as a distraction from all the horrifying attacks and atrocities carried out every other day of the year.

Junta used preschoolers as “human shields” in Sagaing

In a particularly shocking and disturbing incident, RFA reported that the junta had detained between 80 and 100 preschool children at a school in Chin Pone village in Yinmabin Township in Sagaing Region last Saturday. A member of the North Yamar People’s Defence Force accused the junta of using the children as “human shields”. All of the children are under the age of 12, with many reported to be younger than five. Soldiers left the village on Monday, and a PDF moved in to retrieve the children as well as the nine teachers who had also been kept captive.

The PDF said it also discovered several bodies that had been left in the school, although it’s not yet clear if they are those of children. Myanmar Now reported that nine corpses were found, while RFA Burmese put the number at 13 and DVB at 20. But Myanmar Now and RFA both reported that all victims appeared to have been tortured before they were killed. “They look quite gruesome and tortured to death,” said a resident who discovered the bodies. A 16-year-old boy who managed to escape detention also said it was likely that the deceased had been beaten and tortured. The boy said that he was taken to a monastery in the village which was being used by junta soldiers “as an interrogation centre”, where he was shown photos of the victims in which bruises could be seen on their faces and bodies, and some looked as though their legs had been broken. After being shown the images, the boy’s hands were tied and he was put into a room. However, he said he managed to untie the rope and escape just before dawn, returning to Chin Pone village yesterday afternoon after the soldiers had left. One of the deceased victims found in the school was confirmed to be a 19-year-old woman whose father was also reportedly detained. Residents told RFA that though troops are no longer in the village, they haven’t yet been able to retrieve all of the bodies and confirm the identities of the deceased due to fears that the junta may have planted booby-traps in the school.

According to RFA, the soldiers attacked on Saturday while villagers were gathered for a funeral service, immediately opening fire and arresting anyone trying to flee. But Myanmar Now reported that they attacked a PDF graduation ceremony in the village. The troops also allegedly torched at least four homes and several motorbikes. At least 5,000 residents from 10 surrounding villages near Chin Pone have fled since the attack, RFA reports. Regime spokesperson Zaw Min Tun told RFA Burmese that the raid and subsequent attack were carried out because people in the village had been “training PDF terrorists.” He claimed that the detainees were “questioned in accordance with the law.” Not sure what law the junta is referring to given that most laws, in Myanmar and elsewhere, prohibit holding children hostage. The National Unity Government’s Ministry of Women, Youths, and Children Affairs issued a statement in response to the incident, condemning the military for taking children hostage.

More villages targeted in arson attacks

The junta continued with its campaigns of mass destruction, especially in the northwest, by launching a number of arson attacks in Sagaing and Magway regions and Chin State. In Shwebo Township in Sagaing, the junta raided Nama Sarrit village last Friday, killing at least three residents, and burning down more than 400 houses, Myanmar Now reported. The junta column included about 50 soldiers as well as paramilitary Pyusawhti group members, who allegedly opened fire as soon as they arrived in the village. Two of the victims — a 33-year-old woman and a 55-year-old man — were shot dead as they tried to flee from their homes. The third victim, a 77-year-old woman, was found dead in her house after it had been burnt to the ground. Three other elders from the village are also missing. This was the fourth raid on Nama Sarrit village, and more than 70 percent of the houses have now been destroyed, Myanmar Now claimed. Several paddy warehouses were also burned down by the junta soldiers. Residents told Myanmar Now that they think they’re a target because several anti-coup demonstrations were held in the village last year.

In nearby Ngapi-O village, also in Shwebo Township, junta forces allegedly burned down more than 40 houses and killed one resident on February 24. Junta soldiers and their Pyusawhti accomplices, who were stationed in nearby Gwaybinkone village, reportedly entered the village and immediately started firing mortar shells and setting more than 40 houses on fire. The leader of a resistance group active in the area told Myanmar Now that the attack was unprovoked, but also went on to suggest it may be in retaliation for an earlier assassination of a Pyusawhti group leader.

The junta forces targeted three villages in the northern part of Gangaw Township in Magway Region on Monday. Myanmar Now reported at least 11 residents – five of whom were reportedly PDF members – were killed during the raids that were carried out by junta security forces and Pyusawhti group members. Residents told the outlet that a column of 100 troops stormed Kantoe, Shwebo and Thintaw villages yesterday morning, burning down houses and buildings. Thintaw was especially affected, with the outlet saying most of the 250 houses in the village were set on fire. A resident said the fire was still burning as of yesterday afternoon, with only a few houses still standing. Myanmar Now said Shwebo village lost 25 houses to the arson attack and Kantoe village seems to have come out largely unscathed with only one home destroyed. Eight of the 11 victims were from Shwebo village, but were killed near Kantoe, five of whom are believed to have been working with a local PDF chapter. The three other victims, who were killed while trying to flee the raids, included an elderly couple and another elderly woman.

And in Chin State, although Thantlang town has been almost completely abandoned, the military allegedly launched yet another arson attack, burning down 100 houses between February 25 and 27. “They [junta soldiers] are burning down houses intentionally. Since the clearance operations began, they have been setting houses ablaze,” Salai Lian, a member of the Thantlang Placement Affairs Committee told Myanmar Now. So far, the junta has carried out at least 26 separate arson attacks on the town, destroying more than 1,000 houses – nearly half of the 2,300 homes in the town – as well as 19 religious buildings and several government offices. The Chinland Defense Force, which is active in the area, claims that at least two battalions remain stationed in the urban area of the town and are responsible for the arson attacks. Nearly all of Thantlang’s 8,000 to 10,000 residents have been displaced since the attacks first began, with most escaping to nearby forests.

Junta excluded from US-ASEAN summit

Despite a series of failed attempts to get a “non-political representative” from Myanmar to the table at an ASEAN Summit, the United States has announced that it will nevertheless be extending the same, conditional invitation for its upcoming summit in Washington from March 28 to 29. A spokesperson from the US State Department issued a statement yesterday stating that the US would be following ASEAN in its decision to “invite a non-political representative from Burma to the summit” given that the junta has “failed to make meaningful progress on ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus and should be held accountable.” The spokesperson did not comment on who the representative would be, but if it’s anything like the ASEAN summit, ASEAN-China summit, or the ASEAN foreign ministers retreat and it is left up to the military, they will likely simply reject the invitation entirely and leave Myanmar’s seat empty. You would think at this point, after the junta has rejected the same offer not once but three times, someone might propose doing things differently. (Maybe taking the ball out of the junta’s court and offering it to another group instead? Just a suggestion.) And the repeated emphasis on the five-point consensus, which again, feels a bit futile at this point given how little has been accomplished, might also need to be revised. But most of the international community seems happy to hide behind ASEAN and the five-point consensus rather than take their own initiatives, so we aren’t holding our breath.

Frontier Myanmar

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