Murmurs from Eituhta
(or)
Sufferings of Karen IDPs under military
operations
11 June 2007.
Written by Saw Yan Naing.
Ko Mya
San, a young Karen man, from Tin Na Hta village, Tangoo Township, is sitting
in a bamboo shanty. His face is covered with Thanakha (Burmese traditional
lotion).
Although
his appearance describes that he is not familiar with media he said that he
welcomes reporters and he would like to talk them about them. He would like
them to let know their difficulties so that the questions were welcome.
The place
where Ko Mya San was staying is Ei Tu Hta, a refugee camp inside Burma. Ei
Tu Hta is a village or refugees camp situated on the bank of Salween River
that runs in between Thailand and Burma.
The camp
was founded in April, 2006 to accommodate some of those 30,000 local
villagers driven by the attack of State Peace and Development Committee's (SPDC)
armed forces.
Among
those internally displaced people, many of them were not allowed to cross
the border to reside in refugee camps in Thailand. Now there are about 600
new arrivals and total population of the camp is over 3000. Only few
reporters had visited here in the past. But, Ko Mya San without reluctance
says he would like to reveal his feeling dramatically although he does not
have media experience.
In reality
all people here had experienced and suffered sorrowful events and like Ko
Mya San they all would like to tell their regretful grievances.
Naw Hsa Le
Wah, a Karen woman from Nya Mu De village, Taungoo district, said that
whenever she remembers past sorrowful events she used to put her anger upon
her children because she has no idea how to comfort herself. “When I think
of past events I have no appetite for food and I could not eat. When my
children disobey me I get angry and sometimes I would like to beat them till
they die”, she said in Karen language.
Her
feeling can really make her crazy. She became a widow and mother of several
children after her husband was arrested and killed by SPDC battalion without
mercy and sympathy. While she regretfully told about her husband’s
unpleasant incident her voice became unstable, shaky and faded along with
tears started to come from her eyes to her cheeks. Knowing that she could
not pretend, she continued her story with tears. “My daughter was a year old
when her father was killed by Military and in rainy season. It was difficult
to travel and moving things around; there was no one to help us and I had
faced huge amount of difficulties to live with my children”, she said in a
manner of severely exhausted and hopeless.
Naw Hsa Le
Wah earns her living by farming on hillside. And her husband is a ordinary
villager, too. He was murdered while hiding in jungle before getting Ei Tu
Hta refugee camp.
With tears
on her cheek and cracking voice she continued how her husband was murdered.
The soldiers tied his hands at his back and took out his two eyes and set
him free. After that he stalled into jungle with his blind eyes and finally
he died in lack of food.
He was
arrested on the way back home from his farm and at that time she did not
know about him. She was longing for seeing her husband coming back from
farming. But a week later unexpected and sorrowful news about her husband
reached her ears. The news made her totally crazy, she said.
Even
though events are changeable to end, days and days living with sorrowful
feeling is so long for her.
By
military attack in the beginning of 2006 in the districts of Taungoo and
Nyaung Lay Bin every villager who left homes had several troubles,
respectively. Ei Tu Hta accommodates people, who lost their property; who
were raped; who lost legs by land mines; and widows of murdered husbands.
In the
report made by Karen Women Organization on May 3, 2006, the military regime
was recognized as the most oppressive government because it destroyed 54
villages in Taungoo district, 100 villages in Nyaung Lay Bin district and 10
villages in Hpa Pun district and within 10 years they destroyed 2800
villages in Karen State.
Over 60
years old Naw Hsa Paw, thin woman with white hair, has similar story like
Hsa Le Wah. She feels like yesterday although the sorrowful event to her
husband had happened more than a year ago. Naw Hsa Paw murmured “I remember
my village. I enjoy farming along hill side. If no soldier comes, I am happy
to live there. But when they come and put the village on fire we had to flee
and that was miserable.
Her
husband was unexpectedly arrested and murdered by military when he traveled
to other place hoping to ease family’s daily hardship.
“He
traveled to earn money for cooking oil, salt and fish paste and did not
return and I heard that he was arrested by military in other village. No
villager dared to recommend him and soldiers accused him of having a gun and
murdered him”, she told how her husband lost his life. Her husband is not a
KNU soldier but an ordinary villager.
She left
her three adult children and fled with her married daughter. While she is
hiding in jungle she whispered lonely whenever she remembered her children,
said her neighbors. Sometimes, she had to eat bamboo shoots and some sort of
leaves and fruits because of lack of staple food rice and sometimes she had
nothing to eat.
She continued about her hard trip of fear from
being arrested and murdered by SPDC soldiers. "It took about a month to flee
and SPDC soldiers chased us. So we had to travel and crossed roads at night.
Nothing could be seen and I got very tired because I am old."
During military operation SPDC soldiers set
villages on fire and destroyed, planted land mine near villages, killed
villagers, and forced villagers to work for them. They confiscated
villagers’ property and when they saw food in jungle they destroyed all,
said villagers who fled their villages.
Military operation in Tangoo and Nyaung Lay Bin
districts started at the beginning of 2006, decreased in its momentum at the
beginning of 2007 but this year in April it restarted again in Hpa Pun
district, said an official from (CIDKP), an organization which helped
internally displaced people from Karen State.
Seven villages in Hpa Pun district were
destroyed and more than four thousand local villagers were forced to flee to
the jungle to hide in the military operation started on 26th
April, 2007 in Hpa Pun district.
"When they (military forces) see villages they
launch heavy mortars and if the villagers flee they destroyed villages. They
are doing genocide. They pierce rice plates and cookers. They put storage of
rice on fire and they fire paddy fields on hillside. So villagers can do
nothing for their survival. They commit genocide in these ways," said Pa Do
Marn Sha Lar Phan, general secretary of KNU upon military operation on
villagers.
Military
forces operating in Nyaung Lay Bin district are LID 215, 216, 218 and 220
under military regiment command 11 and forces operating in Hpa Pun district
are LID 103, 301, 416 , infantry battlion No. 13 and forces under MOC 1,
said a leader from CIDKP.
There were over 30,000 local villagers fled
from homes and over 16,000 are currently hiding in jungles as internally
displaced people because of military operation started in the beginning of
2006, estimated FBR (Free Burma Rangers) who is assisting the internally
displaced people.
SPDC launched military operation over Karen
people since 1974 and reduced the momentum of its operations during 1988
democracy uprising. Soon after 88 uprising they again launched military
operations until 2004 when KNU and SPDC got a gentleman agreement for cease
fire. But, from 1996 up to now, they has been launching operations to areas,
respectively, mentioned Pha Do Marm Sha Lar Phan, general secretary of KNU.
Local people suffered from civil war for
several years since 1974 and their lives are not ease and peaceful yet.
“We would like to let the outside world know
that we want real peace and human rights. We have read about human rights a
little in journals and listen from radio. Human Rights is a description and
we deserved to get that opportunity. So we want to live in peaceful
environment. In order to get that peaceful condition I would like to ask
international community to pressure in order to overthrow military
dictatorship as soon as possible, said Ko Mya San who experienced several
bitter and terrible events, in his most preferable desire.
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