Troops In Myanmar Burn Villages Down To Suppress- Asiana Times

DESTROYED IN A SECOND

An aerial view of Bin village of the Mingin Township in Sagaing region after villagers say it was set ablaze by the Myanmar military, in Myanmar

The military of Myanmar (Junta) had overthrown the government of Aung San Suu Kyi on 1st February, 2021. Since then any opposition to the military reign had been outlawed. The peace and stability of the nation has been in turmoil ever since. The serene and tranquility of the central Myanmar has been replaced by conflict and raging fires. Many villages have been reduced to rubble and dust.

Bin village of the Mingin Township in Sagaing region is one of the latest to feel the fury. Almost all the wood and brick houses built by generations of hard labor and strife has been reduced to smoking pile of charred wood and bricks.

Bin is just one among the hundreds of villages that have been burnt by the military troops, seemingly to suppress the opposition to the last year’s coup. Over the past year the mostly Buddhist central frontier of the Sagaing region has been the site for fierce fighting between the Military (Junta) and the groups of People’s Defense Force (PDA), the armed wing of the National Unity Government (NUG), the elected government that was overthrown by the Military of Myanmar in February, 2021.

The PDA has many recruits that live in the villages. Because the formation of the PDA consists of mostly Militia, the members of the groups also lead civilian lives when not under threat. Because of the so called nature of the PDA, Junta had been having a hard time identifying and segregating the militias from the civilians. So they turned to the tactic of arson. Soldiers have been leading ground assault into civilian villages, torching everything they feel is connected to the PDA. Air force has also been carrying out air strikes on a daily basis.

A village in Magway township reduced to dust and rubble

Nearly 52,000 people have been displaced due to large scale Military attacks and arson. The tactic is effective in spreading fear among the people of Myanmar, as citizens flee from their homes in fear of Military retribution. On the other hand it also hardens some citizens to the point that they get ready to take up arms and face the military dictatorship. The military attacks being carried out in regions like Sagaing and Magway, is disrupting the lives of local inhabitants.

As more and more villages burn and people are displaced, the country mostly dependent on agriculture will suffer a heavy blow back. Regions like Sagaing and Magway, where most of the crops in the country are produced are getting desolated by the local population in the wake of the attacks. The reduction in production, in such high yielding areas will lead to deficit in the nation’s food supply and will further escalate the already soaring food prices . According to Myanmar Food Security Cluster, a body coordinating the response of U.N and other aid organizations in the country.

Apart from the razing of Bin, there were also accounts of Junta burning three other villages in the Sagaing region. Ohn Hnae Bok, Hna Ma Sar Yit and Chaung-U also suffered a similar fate at the hand of the Junta. Dozens of Satellite images supplied by U.S earth imaging company Planet labs and U.S space agency NASA, show clearly the villages of Sagaing region on fire. These photos are the strongest evidence as of this day about the military campaign that’s being conducted by the Junta for the last one year now. The local Intelligence reports match the accounts of the photos collected by orbiting satellites.

The central Sagaing region Is where the Junta faces armed opposition from the PDA, thus Junta have resorted to arson in order to step up its counter assault on those responsible for fueling the resistance. PDA and NUG has been designated as terrorists by the Junta. Myanmar’s military has cut off access to internet across Sagaing region, thereby making the process of authenticating the local accounts very hard and complicated to complete.

The burning of villages has been a decades old tactic of the Myanmar military, to deprive insurgencies of support. In 2017, the army had burned and pillaged hundreds of villages as it pushed thousands of Muslim Rohingyas from the Rakhine region.

myanmar villages — Image source – Deccan Herald

It was last month that United States formally recognized the atrocities committed by the Myanmar Military against the Rohingya population of Myanmar. The Myanmar military had carried out a genocidal military campaign with the intention to purge the race out of the country through whatever means necessary. The accounts given from behalf of the military had many Inconsistencies and fallacious narratives that do not match the accounts of those who were on the other side of the subjugation.

From the recent events it can be understood that the military is trying to crush or at least reduce the severity of the insurgency to a manageable level, before the onset of monsoon season in May or June, when troop movement becomes a logistical nightmare. The conflict between Military Junta and The People’s Defense Army is only getting worse with every passing day, and it is the civilians who are getting affected in the cross fire.

Published By : Akshita Katoch

Edited By : Khush thakur

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