Two people shot, one fatally, in Ye Township, Mon State

March 6, 2008

Lawi Weng, HURFOM

YE TOWNSHIP: On March 2^nd, two people were shot by the Burmese army in Ye Township, Mon State, after being caught violating travel restrictions.

Fighting between the regime and Mon rebels is ongoing in Southern Ye, and the army recently announced that Toe-Thet-Ywa-Thit village, Yin-Ye and Yin-Dein villages are under martial law. The regime considers Southern Ye to be a “black area,” which means it is under rebel control, and the government reserves the right to arrest, detain and torture people as well as shoot on sight.

The victims, a husband and wife from Toe-Thet-Ywa-Thit village, were shot by troops from Infantry Battalion No. 31 immediately after being found working on their rubber plantation. The couple was in violation of travel restrictions, but had never been accused of working with rebel groups. “The wife died on the spot and the husband was injured and had to be hospitalized,” said a Mon human rights worker.
People in the area are afraid to complain to the army regarding the shooting, said a local source. More than five villagers were shot last year, in warning designed to scare people away from providing for Mon rebels, said Mon human rights analysts.

The recent shootings are thought to be designed for a similar purpose, and people are now afraid to work on their farms. People are being forced to purchase new travel documents from IB No.31, and renew them every month like a visa. “We have to give document to the army when we come back. Then, we go, we have to take it again,” said a local gardener.
The documents cost one thousand kyat. While people used to be able to obtain one document for an entire family, each person is now required to have their own papers, said Mi Ni, who recently left Southern Ye for an Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) area on the Thai-Burma border.

The people of Southern Ye have suffered from human rights abuses for years. Land and crops have been confiscated, villages relocated and people forced into unpaid labor projects. Individuals have also been detained and even tortured. While Southern Ye is considered a “black area” by the regime, the influence of the Burmese army has been growing.

While the primary Mon political group, the New Mon State Party (NMSP), signed a ceasefire with the regime in 1995, smaller groups have continued armed resistance and Burma is home to the longest ongoing civil war in Southeast Asia. Mon State alone is home to an estimated 76,000 IDPs as people flee the fighting.

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under News