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KHRG #98-05 Part 7/7 (Dooplaya)
- Subject: KHRG #98-05 Part 7/7 (Dooplaya)
- From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 30 Jun 1998 21:34:00
STRENGTHENING THE GRIP ON DOOPLAYA
Developments in the SPDC Occupation of Dooplaya District
An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group
June 10, 1998 / KHRG #98-05
[Some details blanked out or omitted for Internet distribution.]
*** PART 7 OF 7 - SEE PREVIOUS POSTINGS FOR OTHER PARTS OF THIS REPORT ***
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_
#6.
NAME: "Naw Eh Ghay" SEX: F AGE: 53 Karen Christian missionary
FAMILY: Married, 4 children aged 8 months to 6 years
ADDRESS: Meh Tharaw Hta village, Dooplaya District INTERVIEWED: 4/98
["Naw Eh Ghay" was interviewed in Noh Po refugee camp.]
Q: Since you came here did ever go back [to Dooplaya] to visit?
A: I went back the first time to Kwih Kler village, then I went back again
during my children's school vacation. The situation in Burma is too bad.
The people are in fear. Every time the SLORC [SPDC] Army comes the
men have to run away and hide, because they try to capture the men
whenever they come. Every day 6 people must go to stay with them so
that they can use them whenever they need them. Wherever they want to
go those 6 people must go with them and carry their things, which are very
heavy, sometimes until they cannot carry anymore. Sometimes they have
to do other work, and sometimes it is dangerous. People who do not dare
to go must give 1,500 kyats for 3 days [in lieu of 3 days of work]. If
people don't go then the Burmese will never set free the previous group.
People must always stay with them and keep rotating.
Then they brought prisoners [convicts] up into the jungle on Army trucks.
Along the way they tied the prisoners' necks and hands tightly to the sides
of the trucks and made them stand up straight. When they arrived at the
T'Ku Kee church they let them get down from the truck. Some prisoners
couldn't stand up anymore and they fell down. The soldiers saw that and
kicked them and hit them until they became unconscious. Then they
picked them up and dragged them under a shady tree. I heard that they
will use those prisoners to do road construction. The road will go from
Kyaikdon to [Kya In] Seik Gyi. I know the prisoners are in Kyaikdon
right now because I saw Aunty S--- at the bible school there and she told
me, "Now Kyaikdon is full of Burmese military and prisoners. They've
probably brought the prisoners to do road construction." Right now the
villagers aren't doing road construction because they have to rotate doing
forced labour in the Army camp full time, and they must go and do
whatever the soldiers order them to do at any time.
Q: Before you came back here did you hear about any villages being
forced to move?
A: About the relocations, now Kalay Kee and Kyaw Kay Ko have to
move because the Burmese accused them of feeding the KNLA, so the
Burmese won't allow them to stay there anymore. The people of Kyaw
Kay Ko have to move to Kya In and the people from Kalay Kee have to
move to T'Ku Kee. I heard that relocations will also occur in many other
places. Even the villagers in Kya In [western Dooplaya] must move to the
roadside. I also heard one village headwoman say, "If I'm going to build a
house I will build it at the roadside, because we must move there anyway".
I heard her say that in H---'s shop in Seik Gyi.
Before the 11th [of March or April 1998] they arrested villagers from Kya
In and put them in jail. They beat them badly. I didn't see them when
they
were beaten but I saw their wives and children who had to give bribes to
save them. Finally they set them free after many people had come and
vouched for them, but they had to pay 10,000 kyats for each villager to be
freed. Not only that, they had to buy clothes and food for the soldiers
too.
The arrested people were villagers of Kya In. I don't know their names,
but younger brother Pastor Tha Du was among them.
The villagers there are afraid of them and have to give money to them all
the time. They must give them whatever food they want whenever they
ask for it. If the villagers don't give it to them then they just steal
whatever
they want. They always demand rice, vegetables, salt and fishpaste. I saw
that happening in T'Ku Kee. When I went back there I didn't have a
chance to ask about too many things, and I often had to hide and couldn't
dare go outside. But I heard about many things from the villagers there
who have to live in fear.
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#7.
NAME: "Pa Boe" SEX: M AGE: 30 Karen Dta La Ku farmer
FAMILY: Married, 4 children aged 7 months to 7 years
ADDRESS: Kwih Kler village, Dooplaya District INTERVIEWED: 20/2/98
[When interviewed "Pa Boe" was staying in a hut near a Dta La Ku
village in Thailand.]
Q: Where is your village?
A: My village is Kwih Kler. I guess it takes about 3 or 4 hours to walk
from here.
Q: How many months have you stayed here?
A: I fled and came here one or two months ago. I came because we had a
bad time there, because they forced us to do their work until we had no
chance to do our own work. They forced us to do many things such as
portering, standing as sentries, and many other kinds of labour. We had to
carry bullets for their sentry troops. Many people from Kwih Kler had to
go.
Q: Where did you have to go as porters?
A: Sometimes to nearby places and sometimes far away. If they were
sentry troops based nearby they would set us free sooner, but if they were
going down to the town to change their troops then it would take many
weeks. Sometimes they did not tell the truth. If they said that a trip
would
take 2 or 3 days, it really took one to three weeks. Many people had to
face that. Some people coughed up blood after they came back from
portering. If we had not come here we would still be serving as porters.
When they first arrived [in February 1997], we ran away. After that we
went back to the village to stay, and we've had to go as porters since
then,
until just before we came here. Now we do not dare go back.
Q: How many families live in Kwih Kler village?
A: At first there were more than 100 families, but now fewer families are
left in the village. Some have left, but some still stay.
Q: Where was the camp of the Burmese who forced you to be porters?
A: In Kwih Kler they had a camp, and we also had to go to their Saw Hta
camp. I'm not sure how many soldiers they had because they changed their
troops often. They're not the same as Karen soldiers - sometimes they
changed once or twice in one month. So I don't know how many soldiers
there were. They had many groups. Right now #62 [Infantry Battalion] is
in the village.
Q: Were there other types of labour that you had to do for them?
A: We had to do many kinds of labour for them. We haven't had to build
the car road yet, but we will have to build one. There is a car road in
the
village but it is not good.
Q: Were the villages in Kwih Kler area relocated?
A: Some people still stay in the village. Some people such as the Dta La
Ku didn't like to stay in the village anymore because they couldn't live
according to their religion. There were many different kinds of religion
in
the village, so it was difficult for the Dta La Ku to practice their
religion.
In the village there were Baptists and Buddhists. The Dta La Ku wanted to
go away but the village headman never allowed them to leave the village,
so some Dta La Ku tried to run away secretly. Many families came with
us, about 10 families. In Kwih Kler there were not too many Dta La Ku
people but there are still some families left in Kwih Kler. Some Dta La
Ku people who came here also went back. Before they went back there
were nearly 20 Dta La Ku families [from Kwih Kler] here.
Q: Many people already went back, so why don't you go back?
A: I do not dare to go back because I am afraid of the Burmese. I will go
back when there is peace in my village, after the Burmese leave my
village, because the Burmese treated us badly.
Q: How can you get your food here? Can you farm here?
A: Yes, we must farm.
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#8.
NAME: "Saw Beh Htoo" SEX: M AGE: 28 Karen Buddhist farmer
FAMILY: Married, 3 children
ADDRESS: Kwih Kalay village, Dooplaya District INTERVIEWED: 22/2/98
[When interviewed "Saw Beh Htoo" was staying in a hut just on the Thai
side of the border.]
Q: How long did it take you to come here?
A: It took a day. Our village is to the west, near Kyaikdon. I've stayed
here for one season, with my brother and sister.
Q: Did the SLORC come to your village?
A: Yes, they came. I was staying in the village when the SLORC came. I
stayed about 25 days and then I came here. First I came alone, then I went
back and called my family. I don't want to go back because the situation
is
not good.
Q: How many houses are there in Kwih Kalay village?
A: It has more than three hundred houses. Sgaw and Pwo Karen, Thai
and Mon. About a hundred houses are Karen. Several families have come
to stay here. The KPA come here all the time. They tell stories to try to
get us to go back. They told me to go back to my village. He said, "You
can go back, nothing will happen". I told him I won't go back, first I
will
stay here for 4 or 5 years and then maybe I will go back. I told him that
I
don't like Burmese soldiers.
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_
#9.
NAME: "Saw Lay Ghay" SEX: M AGE: 30+ Karen Christian farmer
FAMILY: Married, 3 children aged 8-12
ADDRESS: Noh Dah Kee village, Dooplaya District INTERVIEWED: 22/2/98
[When interviewed "Saw Lay Ghay" was staying in a hut just on the Thai
side of the border.]
Q: When did you arrive here?
A: I arrived here in October 1997, because the SLORC came into our
village. After they came I stayed for less than a month. The SLORC told
us to do so much for them that we couldn't do our own work, so we came
here. Every day the SLORC told us to get rocks from the river and carry
them up the hill. Their camp is on the hill, just near Lay Po Hta. We had
to go every day to carry rocks. Every man in Noh Dah Kee village had to
go every day.
Q: How many houses are in your village?
A: It has eleven houses. We came here with one other household. We
came a secret way. Five households are still staying in our village. The
SLORC [SPDC] makes the people work for them every day. The people
have to carry rice up the hill for the SLORC whenever their rations come.
I'm afraid to go back because the SLORC makes us work all the time,
there is not enough food and I have no money to buy food. My house was
made of bamboo, so I think it is probaby destroyed by now. The Thai
soldiers told us to go back but I am afraid of the SLORC. I will stay
until
the SLORC go back to their place. If they go back to their place I will go
back to my village.
Q: Will you go back if the SLORC leaves and only the KPA stays there?
A: No, I am afraid to go back because the KPA also works with the
SLORC.
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_
#10.
[The following field reports were sent in by a KHRG human rights
monitor who obtained some of the information from villagers and some
from KNLA intelligence reports.]
On 17 May 1998, SPDC troops from Strategic Command #2, Infantry
Battalion #357, commanded by Battalion Commander Than Shwe, entered
the villages of Lay Mila [4-Mile], Bone Kaw and Meh Ter Pwee and
arrested village elders Saw Ku, Pa Ter Ru, Pa Per Lweh, Mer Hu Lah, Saw
Myint Thay, Nya Shu, Maw Shwe Thay, Neh Kyaw Pay, Maw Lah Shwe,
Maw Lah Tha, and Maw Per Eh [all men, ages not given; 12 men were
arrested, though only 11 names are given] and beat these men badly until
4 of the 12 died of the beatings. They accused the men of having had
contact with the KNU.
On 18 May 1998, Battalion Commander Than Sein and his troops from
SPDC Infantry Battalion #231 arrested Saw Htoo Lay (male, age 37) from
Meh T'Kreh village and beat him to death.
On 22 May 1998 at about 10 a.m., SPDC Frontline Engineers #904
Battalion forced villagers from Kyaikdon village, Kawkareik township to
work under duress on the road from Kyaikdon to Kyo G'Lee village tract.
They forced the villagers to begin construction on a road bridge, to break
stones into pieces and to lay stones and gravel to make the roadbed.
On June 5th 1998, SPDC soldiers from Infantry Battalion #356 led by
supply officer Cho Win entered Waw Lu village and captured villagers
there to be porters. The villagers tried to escape but 4 men were caught:
Pa K'Lah (age 50), Pa Lu Lah (age 30), Pa Day Thu (age 25), and Pa Tha
Kyi (age 40). The soldiers then beat the 4 men [probably in anger that
they could only catch the four of them]. Pa Lu Lah was beaten badly and
was seriously injured.
Now the officers of SPDC Strategic Command #2 continually demand
money from the villagers in the area, but they have issued an order
prohibiting many villagers from going to work in their fields. People in
the area are now suffering from hunger and vitamin deficiency, because
meats such as pork and chicken are getting more and more expensive.
One viss [1.6 kg/3.5 lb] of meat costs 500 Kyats, and one viss of dried
meat costs 1,000 Kyats. [The prices of meat are most likely being driven
up due to the systematic looting and slaughtering of livestock by SPDC
troops.]
- [END OF REPORT] -