Jurry Chai : Burmese Infantry Battalion (IB) No. 32, formerly stationed in Three Pagodas Pass (TPP) town, Karen State, forced several locals to act as porters on October 3rd , when the battalion moved outside TPP town.
According to a New Mon State Party (NMSP) member from the TPP region, six people from the area in Karen State’s Chaung Zone village tract, near TPP, were forced to porter goods for the battalion two days ago, when IB No. 32 moved to an area further away from TPP town.
IB No. 32 was joined by its replacements for the TPP town base, Light Infantry Battalions (LIBs) 283 and 284, at the end of September. The six forced porters have not yet returned to their homes, and it is unknown how long the porters will be accompanying IB 32, or where the battalion will be traveling to once it leaves the TPP area for its reassignment.
“Yes! They arrested them yesterday evening, [the porters] not returned yet,” the NMSP source told IMNA yesterday.
According to a source from the NMSP’s anti-drug committee, among the six people arrested to act as porters were U Kyaw Yin, 40 Years old, who retired from his village headman position in Miparan village one year ago. U Kyaw Yin was reportedly accosted by the battalion in the forest near his home.
This source added “we hear they took people for portering from the Miparan village, but not sure [if the people have been returned], we are enquiring.”
A military observer from TPP explained to IMNA that forced portering for Burmese battalions was very common in the region until roughly six years ago, when the Burmese army made an agreement with the TPP Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC). The Burmese army agreed to cease arresting local villagers for portering purposes, on the condition that the local TPDC arrange for porters whenever battalions in the TPP region needed them, and paid for these porters with TPDC funds; two years ago, a “military support fund” was created by the local TPDC and various Village Peace and Development Council (VPDC) members for funding porters.
IB No. 32 appears to have forgotten about this arrangement; IMNA’s sources confirmed that the six villagers involved in this latest incident were not selected or recompensed by the TPDC for portering services.
The events of two days ago mark the latest incidence of forced portering in the TPP area this year; on July 12th, three volunteer NMSP soldiers were arrested and forced to act as porters for LIB 409, based in Chaung Zone village, Karen State.
Nai Chan Lon, one of the arrested soldiers ,who escaped from LIB 409 on July 14th along with his two fellow soldiers, reported that “ we have to porter very heavy [weights]”.
Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement made between the NMSP and the Burmese government in 1995, the Burmese army is banned from arresting NMSP soldiers to use as porters.
LIB No 32 is led by Lieutenant Colonel Aung Tint Khing, and contains about 110 soldiers, according to a Karen National Union (KNU) officer.
