Mehm Oa : A battalion under the Military Operation and Management Command (MOMC) No- 19 has ordered village headmen in Ye Township, Mon State to collect funds to create a slew of people’s militias.
According to New Mon State Party (NMSP) sources, the battalion in question is Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 63. Among the Ye Township villages to be included in the tax are Andin in the northern part of the township, Andin, Hnee Janu, Sai Khon, Guu Katow and Hnee Karait. The orders were issued on October 6th; reportedly, funds have already been collected from Hnee Janu village.
“They [LIB No- 63 under MONC No-19] want to collect 700,000 kyat per village to hire a people’s militia for each village [not comprised of local, brought in from outside]. But all the people’s militias [they want to hire] are retired from the army. They have to pay them 50,000 kyat per month and also food and accommodation” an NMSP member reported.
A retired former major from the NMSP said that while the northern part of Ye township is currently quite peaceful, before long the area might face the same taxation problems faced by the southern part or Ye or in Khawza Sub-Township.
The retired major said, “The areas in southern Ye township and Yebyu township, and Tenesserim Division didn’t have human right abuses before NMSP made a ceasefire with the Burmese government in 1995. But the human right abuses started happening after the ceasefire with the Burmese government was made”.
He added that tensions between the NMSP and the Burmese government are currently high, and the ceasefire between the two groups is troubled; should the two groups fight each other, this source felt that all of northern Ye will immediately be troubled by the same problems as areas in the south.
A resident of Andin village in the northern part of Ye township said “Our village is normally peaceful, not like in southern Ye Township and Khawza Sub-Township”.
Communication between the NMSP and the Burmese government became strained after the NMSP refused to surrender its armed wing to to the government this September; Burmese battalions have begun moving into areas accorded to the NMSP in the two group’s 15-year-old ceasefire agreement.
People’s militas are being complied in many areas of southern Burma. On August 3rd of this year, IMNA published information on how the July 14th arrival of Infantry Battalion (IB) No. 282 and LIB No. 273 in a Yephyu Township village, to discuss the establishment of a people’s militia groups, caused widespread panic in the community; 100 villagers fled the area by the beginning of August 2010.
