More than 350 Chin have been killed and more than 1,500 houses burned down by military council troops in Chin State within the 22 months since the military coup in Myanmar, the Institute of Chin Affairs (ICA) announced December 1.
The ICA claimed that in the 22 months from February 1, 2021, to November 30, 2022, a total of 355 Chin people lost their lives at the hands of the military council and 1,505 houses were burned down in Chin State by its troops.
“Chin State’s population is only about five hundred thousand and it is the poorest and least developed state in Myanmar. Therefore, the number of lives and value of properties that we lost are proportionally very high”, said Salai Van Sui San, Deputy Director of the ICA.
Among the 355 people who lost their lives at the hands of the military regime are 167 innocent civilians (men -132, women – 35), including 24 underage children – 19 boys and five girls. Among them are also six babies – six and seven months old. Christian ministers were also brutally murdered during this period, according to the ICA.
Among those killed were 186 members of the Chin resistance forces who were forced to go underground after their peaceful protests against the military coup were violently cracked down. These 186 members, most of them in their youth, would have been peacefully studying, working, or raising or supporting their families had there been no military coup in the country.
Among the 355 people in Chin State who lost their lives in the 22 months at the hands of the junta are 10 people who were shot during their peaceful demonstrations against the military coup and up to 33 people who were murdered after being raped or tortured. In addition, nine innocent civilians were arrested, tortured, killed, and their bodies burned to cover up their crimes. The bodies of another seven were never recovered.
As many as 17 people also lost their lives due to a lack of medications while fleeing from the junta’s violent crackdown. Nine people were killed after being used as human shields, three people were killed by bombardments from the junta’s warplanes, three people were killed while in detention and 17 civilians were killed by landmines planted by the junta troops.
In addition, there are currently more than 40,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Chin State, and nearly 50,000 refugees in in the neighboring Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur, according to ICA.
ICA said, the military council which seized power illegally last year, continues to blatantly commit serious human rights violations throughout Myanmar, including Chin State, in order to maintain its power.
It also urged the military junta to refrain from targeting the homes and properties of civilians, to immediately stop attacking and killing innocent civilians, especially women and children, and to stop using heavy weapons against civilians.
In its statement, ICA also calls on the international community again to intervene and take effective measures to stop the military council’s targeted military operations and human rights violations against not only the Chin ethnic group but the entire people of Myanmar.
“The international community needs to take practical action, as we cannot gain much by simply issuing a statement of concern”, Salai Van Sui San continued.
Sent by KMG.