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Hardline monks tied to pro-junta militias in Myanmar’s Sagaing region

March 14, 2022/in News

Residents say the monks are helping to form the groups and even receiving weapons training. Ultranationalist Buddhist clergymen, including outspoken monk Wirathu, are throwing their support behind the pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia in its fight against prodemocracy paramilitaries in Myanmar’s Sagaing region, including by undergoing weapons training clad in saffron robes, residents said Monday. […]

Junta forces seize control of strategic road after intense assault on resistance stronghold

March 14, 2022/in News

The KNDF withdrew from Daw Ngan Kar under a barrage of missiles, airstrikes and artillery fire, but have vowed to retake the neighbourhood The junta’s forces have taken control of a key neighbourhood along a strategically important road in Karenni State that leads to Naypyitaw, forcing resistance fighters to retreat under a barrage of missiles, […]

Hardline monks tied to pro-junta militias in Myanmar’s Sagaing region

March 14, 2022/in News

Junta forces seize control of strategic road after intense assault on resistance stronghold

March 14, 2022/in News

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Hardline monks tied to pro-junta militias in Myanmar’s Sagaing region

March 14, 2022/in News

Residents say the monks are helping to form the groups and even receiving weapons training.

Ultranationalist Buddhist clergymen, including outspoken monk Wirathu, are throwing their support behind the pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia in its fight against prodemocracy paramilitaries in Myanmar’s Sagaing region, including by undergoing weapons training clad in saffron robes, residents said Monday.

Members of the prodemocracy People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitary group have demonstrated some of the fiercest resistance to junta troops and their militia-backed offensive in Sagaing since the military seized power in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup. The military is better equipped and has embarked on a scorched earth campaign in the region with the help of the Pyu Saw Htee, but residents say that a new tool has been added to its arsenal: hardline monks from the Ma Ba Tha group.

A video recently went viral on social media in Myanmar purportedly showing members of the Ma Ba Tha on a “tour” of several pro-junta villages in Sagaing in support of forming Pyu Saw Htee units. The video appears to show the monks helping to train people and delivering Buddhist sermons.

In one clip, Ma Ba Tha leaders known as “sayadaws” — including Wah Thawa, Wira Raza, and Pandita — appear to be holding guns in their hands and telling residents that the PDFs are killing people and setting fire to villages. One monk is heard to say, “Wirathu himself visited the villages yesterday and raised the morale of residents.”

Sources told RFA’s Myanmar Service that the footage was filmed on Feb. 27 at the Yadanar Kan Myint Htei Monastery during a Pyu Saw Htee training camp graduation ceremony in Taze township’s Kabe village. They confirmed that pro-junta monks have been “carrying guns” and “taking part in some of the fighting” in the region.

An eyewitness from Taze’s Kyunle village told RFA that the Pyu Saw Htee groups were “led by Ma Ba Tha monks” and that “Wirathu is involved.”

“There are Pyu Saw Htee and Ma Ba Tha monks,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“These monks are not local monks. All the local monks are gone. They have fled to safety. Some villagers said they saw Wirathu. [Such actions are] totally against the rules observed by the [Buddhist clergy] and we condemn it.”

According to the eyewitness, nearly half of the 350 houses in Kyunle are pro-military and mostly Pyu Saw Htee. Residents who do not support the Pyu Saw Htee have “fled their homes,” he added.

Another resident of the area who declined to be named said the armed monks had summoned Taze’s inhabitants to the Yadanar Kan Myint Htei Monastery and Kyunle’s Lay Thar Monastery and told them not to accept the PDF.

“Since the local monks fled the Yadanar Kan Myint Htei Monastery, they took over the place and tried to turn the villagers against the PDFs,” he said, adding that “all the monks” at the Lay Thar Monastery are junta supporters.

Pro-military ‘from the beginning’

Tayza Nanda, an abbot of the pro-democracy Spring Revolutionary Monk Network in Taze, told RFA that the Ma Ba Tha sayadaws are working in the region with the support of the military.

“These monks have been backed by the military from the beginning,” he said. “What they are saying and doing now is all in line with Wirathu’s preaching and now they are taking up arms. They are [junta chief Sen. Gen.] Min Aung Hlaing’s followers who support evil.

“Real monks can’t even preach to those who carry weapons, let alone carry arms themselves,” Tayza Nanda added.

RFA could not independently confirm allegations that Wirathu is involved with the Pyu Saw Htee. Attempts to contact Wirathu went unanswered Monday.

Junta Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun confirmed to RFA that militia groups had been formed “to protect these villages from PDF attacks.”

“Since the PDFs are threatening villages that do not support them, we have formed militia groups there to provide security for these villages,” he said. “We have not provided monks with weapons. There is no reason to do that.”

Zaw Min Tun noted that he had never “said a word before about the PDF-supporting monks who reside there and are carrying arms,” without providing details about his claims.

A member of the Taze PDF told RFA that on March 6 his group attacked a Pyu Saw Htee unit led by sayadaw Wah Thawa in Kabe village, and that the unit “fled with many wounded.”

“Wah Thawa is no longer in the area. He has fled to Kanbalu. Wah Thawa, who was seen in the footage with a pistol and bullet-proof vest, was the leader,” he said. “Monks hold even more authority in rural areas than village administrators, so [the junta] tried to use the monks to do their organizing of Pyu Saw Htee units.”

The Taze PDF member said the Pyu Saw Htee and the Ma Ba Tha group attacked small villages in the area, including Kyunle and Kabe, and had “forced the locals to join them.”

Ultranationalist monk Wirathu hands himself in to face charges of sedition at a police station in Yangon, Nov. 2, 2020. Credit: Reuters

Using religion for political gain

Rajadhamma, an abbot with the Buddhist Mandalay Sangha Union, said Wirathu had cultivated close ties in the past with the monk leaders of the Pyu Saw Htee group in Sagaing — Wah Thawa, Wira Raza and Pandita.

“All three of them used to live close to Wirathu in the past. We can even say that they are the actual leaders of this group,” he said. “Now they are taking weapons training for killing others. Holding guns and learning how to shoot is completely inappropriate for our religion.”

Ultranationalist Buddhist monk Wirathu was charged by the deposed National League for Democracy government with sedition in May 2019, but the charges were dropped by the junta in September 2021 and he was set free. He is currently touring towns in Mandalay and Bago regions, and witnesses say the military has provided him security.

Political analyst Than Soe Naing told RFA that reports of the Ma Ba Tha’s involvement with the Pyu Saw Htee suggest the militia is using religion for political gain in Myanmar, a Buddhist-majority country.

“The majority of people in our country are Buddhists and they all love and respect the monks, so [the military is trying] to use the monks for their benefit,” he said. “We have never heard about an entire group of monks taking up arms training.”

Myanmar’s military has killed at least 1,672 civilians since the coup and arrested nearly 9,625 others — mostly during peaceful anti-junta protests.

According to a report issued last week by Data for Myanmar, a research group that documents the impact of conflict on communities, pro-junta forces have burned more than 6,700 houses to the ground in 186 locations in nine regions and states since the military coup. Last month, the group said most of the junta-sponsored arson had occurred in Sagaing region.

Last month, a post went viral on social media that allegedly showed a leaked document from the junta’s Northwest Military Command ordering the delivery of more than 2,000 weapons to 77 pro-junta militia groups and calling for the formation of more militia units in remote villages in Sagaing. RFA was unable to independently confirm the authenticity of the document.

Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

RFA News

Junta forces seize control of strategic road after intense assault on resistance stronghold

March 14, 2022/in News

The KNDF withdrew from Daw Ngan Kar under a barrage of missiles, airstrikes and artillery fire, but have vowed to retake the neighbourhood

The junta’s forces have taken control of a key neighbourhood along a strategically important road in Karenni State that leads to Naypyitaw, forcing resistance fighters to retreat under a barrage of missiles, airstrikes and artillery fire.

The Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KDNF) withdrew from Daw Ngan Khar, which is just minutes from the centre of the town of Demoso, after coming under attack on Saturday.

A road linking Demoso to Moebye, a town just north of the border with Shan State, runs through Daw Ngan Khar and then connects to a route that leads to Myanmar’s capital.

Some 200 soldiers were involved in the assault, according to a spokesperson for the KNDF’s Battalion 1.

“They fired missiles. There was no way we could defend against a series of missiles. They also fired 60mm, 80mm, 120mm and 122mm artillery shells relentlessly,” he told Myanmar Now. “We didn’t want to give up control over the area but we had to as we didn’t want to lose any more lives.”

Karenni-Naypyitaw.png

The KNDF still had control of other parts of Demoso Township and would retake Daw Ngan Khar, he said: “We want Daw Ngan Khar back and we will take it back. Please give us your support.”

He added: “It wouldn’t solve every problem but it would be a lot better for the IDPs and for the resistance forces if we could regain control over the area between Daw Ngan Khar and Moebye. At least the IDPs would have somewhere to flee to. They no longer have anywhere to run now.”

During the assault on Daw Ngan Khar, junta soldiers from Infantry Battalions 102, 261, and 427 fired heavy artillery. In recent days and nights scouting helicopters have been hovering over Demoso Township and the junta’s air force has dropped bombs on camps where displaced people have been sheltering, the KNDF spokesperson said.

He had also heard reports that junta forces bombed villages along the Demoso-Moebye road, killed civilians and burned down houses, though he was unable to gather further details because of the communications blackout.

Fighting escalated in the area a month ago after junta soldiers entered and occupiedMoebye. Since then over 100 junta personnel and 40 resistance fighters have been killed, according to statements by the KNDF.

Nineteen civilians have also been killed, including four who died when junta aircraft dropped bombs on camps for people who had fled their homes, according to the statements.

Since fighting erupted in the wake of last year’s military coup, more than 170,000 people have fled their homes in Karenni region, which covers Karenni State and Pekhon Township in southern Shan State.

Many have had to flee several times amid repeated attacks on displacement camps by the junta’s forces, several volunteer aid workers have said.

In early January, anti-junta forces said they had taken control of Loikaw Township, where Karenni’s capital is based. The junta responded by launching numerous assaults aimed at reclaiming the territory, while cutting off phone and internet access to the area.

Resistance forces in Karenni, like those elsewhere in the country, say they do not have enough weapons and ammunition, and have called on the National Unity Government (NUG) to supply them.

Saturday’s defeat in Daw Ngan Khar happened because the resistance was outgunned by the junta, said a KNDF fighter who was involved in the clash.

The group’s fighters had to take turns using weapons during the clash because they didn’t have enough for everyone to be armed at the same time, he said.

“We didn’t think they’d use that much force. It was just too cruel,” he added. “We eventually had to retreat solely because we didn’t have as many weapons as them. But we are going to continue fighting because we just can’t stand injustice.”

Since declaring a war of resistance against the junta in September, the NUG has repeatedly said it is working to establish a chain of command to unify the numerous anti-junta armed groups across Myanmar.

But it remains unclear to what extent the underground administration is arming and training resistance forces.

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A surface to surface missile truck launches a missile during a demonstration by the Myanmar military in Mandalay Region in 2019 (Junta-controlled media)

Naing Htoo Aung, the secretary of the NUG’s defence ministry, told Myanmar Now that supporting the nationwide armed resistance was a “priority”.

“We are trying to provide more funds and weapons,” he said last week. “This is a priority as well as a challenge for the defence department of the NUG.”

The KNDF says it is working under the command of the Karenni Army (KA), a rebel group that has operated in the region for decades, rather than under the NUG.

The KNDF has 18 battalions and is formed of groups of locals who took up arms last year to resist the new junta.

Other resistance groups in the region–including those from Moebye, Pekhon, Demoso, Loikaw and Hpruso townships–say they have formed official ties with the NUG.

There are various other self-organising guerrilla groups active in the region, but it is unclear if they are still operating independently or under the command of a larger group.

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Children walk through a camp for displaced people in Karenni region earlier this month (Myanmar Now)

Aung San Myint, the deputy secretary of the Karenni National Progressive Party, the political wing of the KA, said every resistance group must come under a single chain of command in order to defeat the junta.

“We need to have a step-by-step military plan,” he said. “The plan is very chaotic right now because the resistance groups are not under a single chain of command. That is the reason why we’ve lost so many people.”

Karenni State, also known as Kayah, has a population of around 300,000 people. Well over half that number have been displaced by fighting since the coup, according to local civil society groups.

Junta officials could not be reached for comment on the latest clashes.

Myanmar Now News

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ND Burma

ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.

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