28th April 2021
The view of Mindat shows how difficult the terrain can be for the Junta troops to assert their authority. It is why a guerrilla war could keep going for years, as it has done for 70 years, but with more intensity.
Following on from the intensive firefight the Junta have released some protestors.
The Myanmar military regime on Tuesday night released seven anti-regime protesters who were arrested in Chin State’s Mindat on Saturday.
Their arrests provoked daily clashes between civilian resistance fighters and junta forces in the town, in which at least 20 junta troops had been killed as of Tuesday.
“The detainees were released at around 10 p.m. yesterday. There was more shooting last night on the outskirts of the town. No clashes took place this morning,” a member of Mindat’s civilian defense force said on Wednesday.
Junta troops deployed at a toll gate at the entrance to the town have withdrawn, according to residents.
“Though they have released the detainees, we can’t say things are gonna be fine. The shooting has only ceased for a few hours. We can’t say they won’t attack again,” a resident said.
Source the Irrawaddy 28th April 2021.
This is highly unusual and raises the question as to why the releases were made.
It can also be linked to the following comments made by an officer who has defected from the Tatmadaw. The RFA carried out the interview below with a defecting officer.
RFA: Why did you leave the military?
Chan Mya Thu: One reason was because of the people’s overwhelming opposition to the coup. Another reason is that I am no longer happy in the military service because I don’t agree with the current situation. I don’t think that I should have to take part in such violence.
RFA: Where were you stationed before the coup?
Chan Mya Thu: I was at a border post in Kawthaung near the Thai border. We oversaw the security in that area, and we were getting all kinds of information about the protests. We heard all about the brutal crackdowns.
RFA: What are your personal thoughts on the military coup?
Chan Mya Thu: It should not have happened. The military should be protecting the civilian population. I don’t think it is right to shoot at civilians. I told my friends in the military not to shoot if they could help it. A friend told me he didn’t want to shoot at the people, but soldiers were somehow coaxed or coerced into doing it. Their anger was stoked by the higher officers. He said he could not exactly tell me the details. It seems a type of psychological warfare has been launched. The military units and are not given the complete news.
The troops deployed into the ethnic states are being exposed to outside radio and discrete contact with civilians and are learning more about what is going on outside the closed military bubble from the uncontrolled media.
RFA: What do you think about the daily atrocities committed by the military in various parts of the country?
Chan Mya Thu: Even though I am a soldier, I am a human being, and it was painful to hear about the deaths of young people and even children in some cases. What happened in Bago was unthinkable. Also, all the looting is horrible. These kinds of incidents shouldn’t happen at all. They are unacceptable.
(83 civilians were slaughtered in Bago)
RFA: How many do you think there are in the military who want to escape like you did?
Chan Mya Thu: I think maybe about 80 percent are not happy in the service right now. They want to leave but they cannot do so for many reasons. Some cannot leave because of their families. It is easier for us single people. Others do not know what they will do or where they will go after leaving. I think a lot of them would leave if they had assurances for their future.
RFA: What are your future plans? Will you join the Federal Army that is being planned?
Chan Mya Thu: I am now in the Civil Disobedience Movement. I will do whatever I can to help the people. I will surely join the federal army if it comes into existence.
RFA: Do you have a message for the people of Myanmar?
Chan Mya Thu: It is important that we become united. If everybody strives in earnest, with a strong conviction, the goal of forming a true democracy that they want to see will not be too far ahead.
Source Radio Free Asia (RFA) 27th April 2021.
This interview shows that cracks are starting to show in the military, and that was unknown in the previous clampdowns in the 1960s and 1988.
If the military are trying to calm the situation in the ethnic states by releasing people then it could be that they are wanting to stop getting bogged down there and can then deploy more troops into the metropolitan areas. That may be so that battle hardened troops can exert pressure over their compatriots in the cities and stop them wavering.
Whatever the reasons, something odd is going on.
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