Killings and Abuse

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KHRG Aug-99 Excerpt

Killings and Abuse

"The villagers they shot were Per Talu and Pa Mu Dah [both men]. They
were Taw Oak villagers. One was 15 years old and the other was 34. ?
Four of us had gone to look for vegetables. On our way back, we didn?t
know that the Burmese soldiers had come to our village. They had already
laid some landmines on the path, but none of us stepped on them. Then we
saw the smoke of a farm hut that they had set on fire, but we thought
they wouldn?t do anything to us because we?re only villagers. Suddenly
we saw a soldier carrying a gun, and I knew he was a Burmese soldier. I
started to run and he shot at me, so I fell down and lay quietly even
though I wasn?t injured. Then he shot at my friend and hit him, but he
wasn?t badly wounded and ran right on past me. Then the Karen soldiers
started shooting at them, and the Burmese shot dead my other 2 friends.
? They took the bags of the 2 dead people and took some of their
vegetables and the squirrels they?d caught to eat. Then they burned the
bodies and the rest of the vegetables with some scrap wood. After that
they laid landmines around the bodies, so that nobody would dare go to
remove them. Later another villager went to the place where the bodies
were, and he died because he stepped on one of the mines. After that the
Burmese captured another Taw Oak villager and executed him too because
they accused him of being a KNU spy." - "Saw Tha Dah" (M, 27), Taw Oak
village, southern Pa?an district (Interview #10, 8/98)


In Pa?an district there has not been a systematic hunting of villagers
to shoot them on sight as has been going on since 1997 further north in
Papun district (see "Wholesale Destruction", KHRG, April 1998). However,
over the past several years there have been continuous killings of
villagers throughout the district, particularly in the east near the
Dawna Range. In most cases, SPDC or DKBA patrols see villagers along
pathways or working in their fields and call them over. The villagers
know they will likely be taken as porters if caught, so their first
instinct is to run, and then they are gunned down with no questions
asked by the troops. If the villager is wounded, he or she is left where
they fall or in some cases killed with a knife or bayonet. SPDC troops
then report these as KNLA battle casualties. The number of villagers
killed this way throughout the district is hard to estimate as most
incidents go unreported, but is probably on the order of 5 to 10
villagers per month. Some are shot by the SPDC, some by the DKBA, but
the villagers often make no distinction in these cases, referring to the
DKBA as ?the Burmese? because they act in the same way.


"Recently, the Burmese came to Htee Wah Blaw and shot at some people in
their house. Five people were injured and one of their daughters died.
Her name was Toh Kee [she was 6 years old]. It was [SPDC Division] 44
who shot her. One villager was injured in his bladder, another was
injured on his leg and another was injured on his hand. After the
Burmese from [Division] 44 shot them, they took them to Myawaddy and put
them on trial. They accused them of being KNU, so they beat them when
they interrogated them. They were actually just farmers. The injured
people had to tolerate the pain of their injuries and also the pain of
the beatings. In the end, those injured people were put in prison. Now
they?re still in prison." - "Saw Tee Kaw" (M), Pah Klu village, southern
Pa?an district (Interview #17, 9/98)

"They also killed our 19-year-old son. His name was Saw Ler Htee. When
he was going to get honey, the Burmese saw him and shot him dead. We
heard the sound of the gun so we went looking for him and found his dead
body. ? They?ve shot many of the people from our village. Maw Pay Aye,
Pa May Klay, [both are men?s names] and many other people. This was
happening many years ago as well as just now, when we ran here. They?ve
just shot many villagers as soon as they saw them. That is why we don?t
dare go back there." - "Naw Paw Htoo" (F, 45), Wah Mi Klah village,
northern Pa?an district (Interview #4, 9/98)

"They shot and killed my uncle and my cousin at the same time. They shot
dead my cousin Pa Mu Dah, he was 15 years old, and my uncle?s name was
Per Talu, he was 30. Ah Klih was wounded too and his friend Maung Than
was wounded in his arm, but they ran away. Ah Klih is 30 or 32 years
old, and Maung Than is 20 or 21. All of them were from Taw Oak village
except Maung Than, he is from Kwih Lay. In addition, Ah Klih?s wife
stepped on a landmine and lost her leg. Her name is Mu Si. She is 22 or
23 years old." - "Naw Lah Say" (F, 25), Taw Oak village, southern Pa?an
district (Interview #12, 8/98)


In villages, villagers are sometimes arrested and tortured to death or
summarily executed, usually by beating them to death or with knives, for
being suspected of helping the KNLA in any way, of being the local
village liaison with the KNLA, or being a relative of a KNLA member. In
as many as half or more than half of these cases, the villager is
innocent of the charge. Sometimes they are accused because of a personal
grudge, or another villager gives their name while under extreme torture
simply to escape the pain. In Pa?an district it is usually the DKBA
which points out suspects to the SPDC troops. In some cases villagers
captured to be porters are treated as suspects and executed simply
because they have difficulty carrying, or because they resist in some
way. Villagers who try to stop SPDC or DKBA troops from looting their
possessions, or who try to speak up for other arrested villagers, are
also often threatened with arrest as ?suspected KNLA?.


"?they arrested people last year in rainy season [mid-1997]. Three
people. Ah Ter, Ah Weh, and Saw Wih. Ah Ter was about 30, Ah Weh was 50
and Saw Wih was about 60 years old. They saw them on the path, and they
shot two of them dead and beat the other to death with a rod." - "Pati
Lah Say" (M, 43), Meh Th?Waw area, northeastern Pa?an District
(Interview #24, 4/98)

"When they came to Loh Baw, they forced a villager from Loh Baw to be a
guide for them. The KNLA shot at the Burmese along the way and the
guide?s leg was injured, so he couldn?t run far. The next day the
Burmese looked for him, and when they found him they shot him dead." -
"Pi San San" (F, 50), Taw Oak village, southern Pa?an district
(Interview #18, 9/98)

"They came to Bu Law Kloh, Meh Kreh, and Meh Ko Kee. They came to
capture some people, and some people ran away so they shot at them and
some people died. They killed two people in Kray Hta. It is near the Thu
Mwe Kloh [Moei River], near Meh Taree. Three months ago they arrested a
man there and accused him of being KNLA so they killed him, but he was
not KNLA. I don?t know his name, but he was just a villager. The SPDC
killed him. So people didn?t want to stay there anymore, and some have
gone to stay in the forest." - "Saw Po Htoo" (M, 23), KNLA soldier in
northeastern Pa?an district (Interview #23, 4/98)


Whenever SPDC troops are engaged in offensive operations such as forced
relocations and the burning of villages, the frequency of random
killings and killings under torture can be expected to increase. The
latest operations against villagers in the Dawna Range have not produced
much of an increase in the number of direct killings because in most
cases the villagers have managed to flee and avoid contact with the SPDC
troops. However, as these campaigns continue and spread to cover more
areas in the district and villagers are displaced for longer periods of
time, the frequency of killings will probably increase.


"They say that their soldiers go to the villages and don?t destroy
anything and don?t eat the villagers? animals. I want to tell how they
ate my pigs and chickens, and they even ate my dog. They say that they
don?t torture the villagers, but whenever they come to the village they
shoot and kill the villagers. Last time they came they shot and killed
the sons of Thee Htoo Mo. She had two sons, and the Burmese killed both
of them at the same time. Their names were Pa Dah and Ka Taw Say.
Division #44 killed them. They shot them dead on the spot. They just
called, "Uncle, don?t run", but her sons were afraid of them and ran and
the Burmese shot them. ? First they killed my husband, then they killed
my brother-in-law Aung Kyi and our Pastor, Thra Day Wah. They shot them
dead in the river. ? I had 4 brothers and no sisters, but the Burmese
killed one of my brothers when he was crossing the mountains. His name
was Pa Deh Deh. They killed him when he was 23, they killed him together
with a woman who was his friend. Her name was Naw Ka Nu, she was 25 with
3 children. Then this year at the same time as they killed my uncle,
they also arrested her husband and killed him. His name was Maung Thaung
Ngeh. Both of them died at the hands of the Burmese. Now only their
three children are left." - "Naw Sghee" (F, 25), Taw Oak village,
southern Pa?an district (Interview #16, 8/98)