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KHRG REPORT#96-23




	 FORCED RELOCATION IN CENTRAL SHAN STATE

  An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
	  June 25, 1996     /     KHRG #96-23

[PART 2 OF 6 - SEE OTHER POSTINGS FOR OTHER PARTS OF THIS REPORT & APPENDIX]

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				   #2.
1) NAME: "Sai Seng Wan"   SEX: M     AGE: 34     Shan Buddhist farmer
2) NAME: "Nang Zing"      SEX: F     AGE: 32     Shan Buddhist farmer
FAMILY:  Married, no children but "Nang Zing" is over 8 months pregnant
ADDRESS: Wan Bah San vlg., Nong Hi tract, Chiang Tong twp. INTERVIEWED:
31/5/96

["Sai Seng Wan" and "Nang Zing" are husband and wife.]

"Sai Seng Wan":  I was not in my house when the Burmese burned it [on
Feb. 1], but my wife was.  I was near the village.  Then I knew that the
soldiers were in the village burning houses, so I ran further away.  A few
hours later I went back to the village.  I had to look closely for Burmese
soldiers, and when I saw no Burmese soldiers there I went to my house and
saw that my house had already been burned.  It was a beautiful house.
When I saw that my house had been burned, I still had to keep hiding from
the Burmese soldiers.  I was thinking about whether I should build a new
house or do some farming, but I found I couldn't because then they ordered
us to move to the town.  I myself was not willing to stay in the town.  The
Burmese didn't allow us to work or do anything there, and they wouldn't let
us go back to our old village to get our own food or anything.  My house
had been completely burned so I didn't have anything to go back to there
anyway, so I came to Thailand.

"Nang Zing":  I was in the house with my mother, but they burned it
anyway.  We were just staying in the house, not doing anything special.
Two soldiers came to burn the house.  They started it with straw.  They
knew we were inside, but when they burned it they said nothing.  They
didn't ask anything.  When they came we didn't even know.  We saw the
fire and ran down immediately from the house.  There was only one way
out.  They started to set the fire at the top of the ladder to the door, and
I had to pass through the flame to run down out of the house.  Not only me
but my mother also.  She is over 50.  ["Nang Zing" herself was about 5
months pregnant at the time.]   We went into a panic, and had to run out
through the fire.  While we were running we were crying and screaming.

We had nothing with us, and there was no one to stop the fire.  We ran to
the field, and stayed there until dawn the next day.  When I went back to
our house, I saw only ashes.  We met my husband there.  Nothing was left.
We had to ask for clothes from other people.  We were in the village for 3
months after that, and then we were ordered to move and we came to
Thailand.

"Sai Seng Wan":  We left on May 6th.  They gave the order, saying
"Within 3 days all of you must move".  By such-and-such date.  They said
Chiang Tong area should have only 3 villages.  That's why some went to
Kun Mong, some to Waeng, some to Nong Hi.  They said within 3 days
people must completely move.  They gave a warning, they said, "If you
don't move within 3 days, we will shoot whomever we meet".  By 6 o'clock
of the third day.  After that they didn't do anything to us, but they did to
other villages.  They even shot dead 5 people.  That was in Mong Nai
[area], 5 people were killed and 2 women were wounded.  The 5 who
were killed were from Kung Sar village.  I don't know their names.  All of
them were from Kung Sar.  They had already moved to Kun Mong, but it
is not far, so they came back to their village to get their rice, and by
that
time it was too late.  So they met the Burmese, and they got shot.  They
weren't even going to stay in the village, they were just going back to get
their rice.  They had 5 bullock carts so they could carry more.  They were
moving things from their houses to the carts when they were shot.  The two
women who got wounded were also from the same village.  Their wounds
were not serious, they've recovered already.  They were shot by #99
Battalion, the same ones who ordered us to move.

After the order came, within 5 days I decided to come to Thailand.  We left
for Thailand on the 5th or 6th of May.  We had to sell our cows and ask for
money from some of our relatives [for the cost of the journey], and come
to Thailand as labour.  Those who don't come to Thailand stay in Ton
Hoong village.  There were more than 400 families in our village, and only
about 30 families haven't come to Thailand.  For those who are willing to
come to Thailand, the soldiers just say "Go ahead!"  They don't stop them.
For the rest of the people who have no idea how to get to Thailand because
they have no relatives or friends here, the soldiers take them to work in
the
military farm, taking care of the cattle and buffalos, etc. to provide farm
products for the Army.  The people from our village can go back to the old
village and get their rice and come back, but there is no work for them.  On
top of that, they also have to work for the Burmese.  They have to take
their own rice and work for the Burmese.  The Burmese decided that each
person can eat only 3 small tins of rice per day.  For example, if I have
more than 3 tins of rice with me they will take all my rice.  [The villagers
must hand over their rice to the soldiers, then receive 3 tins of it per
person per day.]  We won't go back unless the country gets better.  Not
unless they get democracy.
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				    #3.
NAME:    "Sai Kham Leng"     SEX: M     AGE: 35         Shan Buddhist farmer
FAMILY:  Married, 1 child aged 5
ADDRESS: Nam Wan village, Wan Lao tract, Kun Hing twp.  INTERVIEWED: 31/5/96

Our village is south of Kun Hing, just on the way from Chiang Tong
through Sai Khao to Kun Hing.  Our village is about 3 kilometres from Sai
Khao, which is close to the Chiang Tong - Kun Hing road.  That road is
quite big, but not paved.  We are about 15 miles from Kun Hing.  In the
village where we live there are more than 100 houses.  Our village already
moved.  The order came on the 15th [of May], and we left there on the
21st.  It took us 3 days to come here [Thailand].  It is now 11 days since
we left the village.

On the 15th the Burmese came and called the head of the village and they
held a meeting.  The meeting was in Sai Khao, and the soldiers came up
from #518 Battalion in Chiang Tong. They called the headmen of 12
villages [all in Wan Lao village tract]:  Nam Wan, Beng Kan, Nah Way,
Kung Sar, Nam Tsang [not the town], Nong Kham, Wan Tsan, Kun Hsing,
Khon Nah, Gong Lang, Ho Yan.  On average each village has about 150
families.  After the meeting with the Burmese, the village head called the
villagers for a meeting.  I was there.  He said, "The Burmese called us to a
meeting and we already had a meeting.  They said we have to move.  You
can move to Chiang Tong or to Kun Hing or to Thailand, wherever you like.
If we don't, they said they'll set fire to our houses.  You can move to
villages along the big road from Chiang Tong to Sai Khao and Kun Hing."
Some people requested the headman if they could not be moved from the
village, but he said we had to obey the order.  On the day we started to
move, all the villagers started taking their belongings and some started
moving to Kun Hing and Chiang Tong, but the majority of them came to
Thailand.  They went to Kun Hing, Chiang Tong, Sai Khao, wherever your
relatives are - anywhere except Nam Wan.

We had to move to Wan Lao.  Before there were 160 houses there already,
now there are more.  When we moved to Wan Lao, they just made us all
find our own places, even in the fields.  People had to clear the bushes to
make a place.  They said we weren't allowed to bring along our building
materials, but we did.  After all the villagers moved, the Burmese troops
started guarding the villages, and they also used the villagers to build
things for them, digging and building a camp and shelters for the guards at
Wan Lao village.  It is #518 Battalion.  They asked for a list of names so
they could recruit people for People's Militia.  The reason they came and
put
their troops in the village is first so the Shan soldiers can't pass
through,
and also so the villagers can't go back to their villages.

Nobody tried to stay in the village, they didn't dare after getting the
order.
Only the monks in the monastery were left.  Apart from the monks, just 3
or 4 families to take care of the monks and the monastery.  The people who
moved to Wan Lao and Sai Khao are allowed to go back and farm.  For
only 5 days they are allowed to be at their farm, and they can take only 3
tins per day of rice for their meals.  They have to get a pass for 5 days
from
the Burmese along with the 3 tins of rice per day.  If the pass expires,
they
have to get a new one.  If you go to the field to farm, you must just stay
in
the field for 5 days and not come back.  They're not allowed to go back to
the village.  If you're in the field you can just stay in the field, you
can't
go to the village.  They allow just one to go from each family.  They just
allow the person who is really going to work, not the wife and the children.
The family must stay behind.

We decided to come to Thailand, because after the order came every time
they see a group of men they catch them and take them for People's Militia.
We have to be their slaves.  They take people by force to build fences.
They ask for a name list and they collect people for People's Militia.  In
Chiang Tong, there is one Battalion already but they will add two more.
On top of that, the Burmese planned to gather all the villagers' rice
together,
and then distribute only 3 milktins to the villagers each day.

They announced the order on the 15th, and we left Wan Lao for Thailand
on the 21st.  Just one third of the villagers are left there with the
Burmese,
the other two thirds have left [the area].  People won't stay in the
relocation place for a long time.  They are still hoping for the day when
they
can go back to their home place, because they have animals and ricefields
still there.  If not, they will come here.  I don't think I'll be going back
home, unless the situation totally changes.  The Burmese didn't tell us
anything about when we can go home.  They are letting people come to
Thailand.
Their aim is just to stop people from staying in the villages, to drive them
out, that's all.  If the villagers stay in those villages, the Shan armies
will still come to stay among them.  That's why they drive all the villagers
out.  They don't care about what the future will be, they just want to empty
those villages.  To those who go and farm they say "Just stay in the fields,
don't go into the village".  This is how they prevent the Shan soldiers from
entering the villages.
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				    #4.
NAME:    "Sai Gong Mon"    SEX: M     AGE: 38           Shan Buddhist farmer
FAMILY:  Married, 3 children aged 7 months, 3, and 9
ADDRESS: Nong Tong Long vlg, Wan Jit tract, Lang Ker twp INTERVIEWED: 1/6/96

["Sai Gong Mon" was working in Thailand when he heard that villages
were being moved and went back to help his wife and children still in Shan
State.]

I got back there about the 3rd or 4th of April - the trip took two and a
half
days.  That is when I arrived in Lang Ker.  I got back and everything was
confused, I didn't know anything.  When I got to Lang Ker they [his wife
and children] were already there.  They said Burmese soldiers came and
made them move immediately, they gave them 5 days.  After 5 days, they
would not be allowed to come back to the village.  When I got there the 5
days was already past.  I didn't get to our village.

Our village had 22 houses.  It's two hours from Lang Ker, to the north.
The Burmese soldiers wanted them to move to the town.  It was #55
Battalion from Mong Pan.  They want everybody who lives outside the
town to move to Lang Ker.  The Burmese said "You're living outside the
town.  If you stay here the insurgent groups will ask rice from you, so
you've got to move to the town."  The whole village and the whole village
tract moved.  Two village tracts - Wan Jit and Hai Koi.  In Wan Jit tract,
Wan Jit, Wan Nong, Nong Oi, Nam Naw, Bung Ton, Bung Sar, Wan Mai,
Wan Tung, and Nah Kah villages - 10 villages altogether [including his
village and Wan Jit].  In Hai Koi tract, Hai Koi, Loi Pow, Son Oi, Nah
Mai, Wan Jong, and Oo Hah - 6 villages altogether.

I heard that afterwards they burned all the houses in our village, but I
didn't see it, I wasn't there.  My relatives told me about it.  My wife and
children were staying in Wan Kaen, close to Lang Ker, with their nephew and
niece.  All the villagers are staying with their relatives or friends, in
other people's houses.  Lang Ker is crowded now.  People had to bring their
rice with them, the Burmese give nothing.  They just give 5 days to move,
and
you have to take everything in that time.  My wife had no idea what it was
about.  They just gave them 5 days to move, so as soon as the Burmese
soldiers ordered them to move they were all busy moving their things.  We
[my family] had rice hidden in the fields.  They carried what they could [to
Lang Ker].  People are working as labourers to get money to eat.  They
work in the local sugarcane fields.  If you go back and farm your own fields
you'd be shot.

The Burmese didn't prepare a place, they just told everyone "Go to Lang
Ker".  The soldiers didn't follow people leaving the village, but they came
to the village to check that they'd left.  The people from the two village
tracts that moved don't have to work for the soldiers now, but before moving
they were forced to work at the Army camp at Nong Long.  The soldiers also
took their cattle, pigs, chickens and everything.  If they want something,
they just take it.

I was there for about one month.  I arrived back here about 10 days ago,
with my family.  I don't know what will happen to people.  We don't know
what to do.  We can't go home.
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				    #5.
NAME:    "Nang Zan Sang"    SEX: F     AGE: 25         Shan Buddhist farmer
FAMILY:  Married, 3 children aged 7 months, 3, and 9
ADDRESS: Nong Tong Long vlg, Wan Jit tract, Lang Ker twp  INTERVIEWED:
1/6/96

["Nang Zan Sang" is the wife of "Sai Gong Mon" (see preceding
interview), and was living in the village with the children while her
husband worked in Thailand.]

We've been married 9 years.  When I was in the village the soldiers came
into the village and gave the order.  I saw them.  There were many groups.
[Her husband's aunt, who was also there, added:  There were about 500.]
>From Mong Pan, Lang Ker, and Mong Nai - there were a lot.  As soon as
we knew that Burmese came into the village, everyone was scared and we
didn't dare go out of our houses.  We had to leave within 5 days.  People
who were refusing to leave, the Burmese went into their houses and took
things.  They gave the order at night, and the next day we started moving.
All the villagers started to move their things immediately.  We had to move
so far.  The older people just stayed at home and the women had to carry
all their belongings, so we couldn't finish moving everything in one day.
We had to run away.  I have 3 children - one walked, one I carried, and the
other I put in a pushcart.  When I left I couldn't take everything with me.
Since the father wasn't there, all I could do was take the children.  Oh!
It
was very hard and miserable to move!  First I tried to move to Nong Tao,
which is not far from Wan Kaen.  But we were told that we couldn't stay
there, so finally we moved to Lang Ker - to Wan Kaen, to stay with my
relatives.  No one helped me, I did it all myself on my own, holding my
baby all the time.  Just mother and baby.  My oldest boy can walk, so he
walked along.  My parents have a pushcart, so I put my smaller boy on the
cart, and I carried my baby on my back with me while I carried other things
on my front.  No one to help.  Those who have more belongings had
helpers.  Oh!  It was terrible.  My tears were even dropping along the way.

During that time there was no day and no night [they had no time to sleep].
I had to keep going until I could carry everything, 3 or 4 days.  Even then
I
couldn't get everything, and now they've burned it all.  Even these clothes
I
have on we had to ask from other people.  Everything's gone already.  They
burned our house about 10 days after I moved to Lang Ker.  21 houses
were burned, all the houses.  There were no houses left.

Q:  How was it like living in Lang Ker?
A:  Ooh!  Terrible!  We had to stay on the ground underneath the house
and on the floor, there were no real rooms, we had no good place to stay.
Each house has 4 or 5 pots of rice cooking [i.e. 4 or 5 families staying
there], so you can imagine how crowded it was.  Ooh!  In the daytime we
had to lay on a mat on the floor in the passage.  We were so tired, but to
take a nap in the daytime they just laid mats all over the floor, all of us
together.  We all had to buy our own food.  We could only afford to buy 1
pyi or 2 pyi [of rice] at a time.  Those who have no children work for
others as day labourers and earn money.  We were over a month staying
with my relatives in Wan Kaen, and my husband came.  Then after 10 days
we left for Thailand.  The other people also faced hardships - especially my
mother.  It was raining heavily, and there was a hailstorm.  The shelter
where she was staying was very old and worse than this house [a simple
bamboo hut with dirt floor], and the house fell down on her.  They had to
lift the house up off her.  When we left for Thailand she still couldn't
walk
very well.  When the house fell down, if we hadn't run we would all have
been buried under it, including the children.  As for now, we enjoy staying
in Thailand.  We don't miss our own place, it's full of misery.
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				   #6.
NAME:    "Nang Pit"      SEX: F      AGE: 50         Shan Buddhist farmer
FAMILY:  Widow
ADDRESS: Nong Tong Long vlg, Wan Jit tract, Lang Ker twp INTERVIEWED: 1/6/96

["Nang Pit" is the aunt of "Sai Gong Mon" (see preceding interview), and
was living in the village when it was ordered to move.]

We were together in that place [in Lang Ker], and we came together here.
I have no husband, that's why I stay with them.  We stayed together in the
same house in the same village, and we came together.  My husband passed
away, so I stay with my nephew and niece.  I am his aunt.  So we can't be
separated.  That's why we came together.

Q:  How did they order you to move and how did you leave?
A:  The Burmese said, "Drive them away from here!  Let everything be
done within 5 days, otherwise we'll set fire to the houses".  The Burmese
from Mong Pan themselves gave this order.  They started from Chiang
Tong and made their way to us.  So we had no chance to take our
belongings.  As soon as they said "Get out", we started to move.  As we
didn't have carts or anything, we started moving right away.  We were given
no chance to go back or look again on our place.  If we did, they would kill
us.  I've got nothing except 2 sets of clothes.  As for food, I got only
1 pyi of rice, and then I went.  I arrived at Wan Kaen, and from Wan Kaen we
didn't go anywhere.  Then we had to come to Thailand.  I stayed in the
same house as them, the same village that had 21 houses burned.  The
Burmese burned all the houses in the village because they didn't want the
people to come back and stay at our old place.

Everyone suffers a lot.  Some of them have to cry.  Some don't have carts
like others, so their children were also crying along the way.  For them,
they don't have enough money to come to Thailand, so they just live there
and
try to make a little money for their survival.
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  - [END OF PART 2 - SEE OTHER POSTINGS FOR PARTS 3 TO 6 AND APPENDIX] -