Min Aung Hlaing’s so-called “extermination” course of suppressing terrorism
Even as international announcements are being made, Min Aung Hlaing is committing massacres in various regions
Myanmar Now | By Thuta Zaw
The military council has been massacring civilians indiscriminately using weapons of mass destruction in the name of counter-terrorist operations in areas beyond their control.
Min Aung Hlaing and the generals, who were unable to control the country as it was in Pazigyi Village, used the method of “extermination” by treating the people who opposed them as terrorists in order to gain control of power.
After the airstrike in A Nang Pa, Phakant Township, Kachin State, The fact that about 170 people were killed in an aerial attack on the people of Pazigyi village, Kanbalu Township, Sagaing Region, confirmed once again that Min Aung Hlaing is using this strategy.
In both A Nang Pa and Pazigyi incidents, receiving early detection information; The military council has admitted that it committed an intentional mass killing by using a highly destructive weapon that hit the target precisely without avoiding the presence of a large group of civilians.
The person who confirmed that fact was Min Aung Hlaing’s arm, Zaw Min Tun himself who is a speaker for the military council in an interview broadcast by Al Jazeera on April 15.
According to Zaw Min Tun’s confession, the military council killed civilians in areas they had no control over, children, woman the elderly even disables, etc., were considered as terrorists without any discrimination.
Therefore, the mass killing of about 170 civilians, including 40 children, 10 adults over 60 years old, is the most obvious proof that Min Aung Hlaing’s “extermination” policy is being practiced.
A question that could lead to Min Aung Hlaing’s execution.
Based on the evidence of military massacres, Al Jazeera reporter Tony Cheng1 cited the A Nang Pa incident in the Phakant area of Kachin State2 and the Moso incident in Kayah State, questioned if the army’s mass killing of civilians are with the consent of their ground forces or whether the top generals had ordered them to do so.
That question is very important under international law. Zaw Min Tun’s answers are an official admission by a top military general that Min Aung Hlaing and the military have been killing civilians since the military coup. This can be evidence that could lead to prosecution at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The first important point in Zaw Min Tun’s answers is that the military did not deny committing mass murders of civilians in the Moso and A Nang Pa incidents. This is a public admission by a military general who is the official spokesperson for the Military Council’s policy on the use of weapons of mass destruction.
The second important point is that in response to Tony Cheng’s question, Zaw Min Tun answered that it was carried out under the Counter-terrorism Operation. Therefore, he admitted that Min Aung Hlaing and the top military generals had directly ordered the recent massacres of A Nang Pa, Pazi Gyi, and Moso.
Zaw Min Tun, while defending the Al Jazeera reporter’s question, said that when he talked about the incident, he said that the KIA (Kachin Free Northern Army) location was attacked. Only 2 civilians were among the dead. He said that the rest were members of the KIA (Kachin Liberation Army).
However, KIA has not been declared as a terrorist organization until today. It is inconsistent with Zaw Min Tun’s statement that it was carried out under counter-terrorism operations.
Not satisfied with Zaw Min Tun’s answer, Tony Cheng said, “That place is KIA controlled territory, but wasn’t it just a music concert?” This is the obvious evidence,” when the question was reversed. He said, “I will say, The celebration that happened here was organized by KIA. The dead were also KIA soldiers,” he responded.
Tony Cheng’s question about whether Min Aung Hlaing could be brought to an international tribunal made Zaw Min Tun angry, as his awkward response revealed. Zaw Min Tun’s statement that “it was carried out as part of a counter-terrorism operation” is similar to the “clearance operation” in 2017, when more than 300 Rohingya villages in Rakhine state were burned down and an unknown number of Rohingya were killed and burned along with their houses, and it is seen as the reality of the military’s violence.
The world needs to take immediate action against war crimes
While the world’s efforts to hold Min Aung Hlaing and his army accountable for the crimes committed against the Rohingya have failed, war criminals are celebrating the mass killing of innocent civilians as a “counter-terrorism operation”.
In addition, Russia and China blocked Min Aung Hlaing’s “extermination plan” as “internal affairs” so that the United Nations Security Council could not take action.
Burmese people should not forget the actions of Russia and China.
According to international laws, including the Geneva Convention of 1949, no government organization has the right to say that mass killing of civilians, including children, women, and the elderly, in the territory of opposing armed groups, is legal.
Although this act is a serious international crime, Zaw Min Tun’s statements prove that the Military Council does not care about international laws.
It is clear that the generals are legitimizing all their criminal acts with domestic laws, and if the international legal system does not protect the Burmese people, the lives of Burmese people will continue to be sacrificed due to the more serious massacres by the military.
Since the military coup on February 1, 2021, it has been more than two years since the Burmese people around the country are defending their democratic system, just because the world praises them and the world leaders who issued a statement saying that they stand with them, the Burmese war criminals will not stop brutally killing their own people using destructive weapons.
Like everyone else in the world, Burmese people deserve to live with dignity and respect, as this is a fundamental human right that no one can take away. If this basic right is respected and valued, the world leaders should not neglect their moral responsibility and should make an all-out effort to punish the rogue generals before it is too late.
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This post originally appeared in the “Myanmar Now“, written by Thuta Zaw, and translated by Thawng Tunngo, Washingtonianpost.com.