This Incident Report describes Tatmadaw military activities that occurred in Lu Thaw Township in January 2018. They include: strengthening army camps, enlarging territory, and sending rations, trucks and backhoes with the stated objective of expanding the military operation road in Lu Thaw Township, Hpapun District.  This occurred without Tatmadaw receiving prior permission from the Karen National Union (KNU) and local civilians.

Incident Report | Lu Thaw Township, Hpapun District (January 2018)

The following Incident Report was written by a community member in Hpapun District who has been trained by KHRG to monitor local human rights conditions. It is presented below translated exactly as originally written, save for minor edits for clarity and security.[1] This report was received in April 2018 along with other information from Hpapun District, including 23 other incident reports, 23 interviews, two situation updates, 322 photographs and 33 video clips.[2]

Part 1 – Incident Details

Type of Incident

Militarisation 

Date of Incident

January 2018

Incident Location

(Village, Township and District)

Kay Pu village tract, Lu Thaw Township, Hpapun District

 

Victim Information

Name

Saw K---

Age

60

Sex

Male

Ethnicity

Karen

Family   

Married

Occupation

Farmer

Religion

Animist

Position

Village head

Village

J---village

 

Perpetrator Information

Name(s)              

Rank

Unit

Base

Commander’s Name

-

-

-

 Htee Htaw Per

-

-

-

-

Khaw Daw Hkoh

-

-

-

-

Hsa Law Kyoh

-

-

-

-

Kweh Kyoh Hkoh

-

Part 2 - Information Quality

1. Explain in detail how you collected this information.

I [KHRG researcher] met Saw K---, a 60-year-old J--- village head, on 29th January 2018 in L--- place, P’Nah Aay Per Hkoh area, Kay Pu village tract, Lu Thaw Township, Mu Traw [Hpapun] District.

 

2. Explain how the source verified this information.

This information is accurate because the incident happened in an area close to where Saw K--- lives.

Part 3 – Complete Description of the Incident

Describe the Incident(s) in complete detail.

I [KHRG researcher] met with the J--- village head named Saw K--- on 29th January 2018 in L--- place, P’Nah Aay Per Hko area, Kay Pu village tract, Lu Thaw Township, Mu Traw [Hpapun] District. The village head reported that there are 17 households and 134 villagers in his village. Villagers work on hill farms for their livelihoods. There are no other job opportunities for villagers to earn an income. Even though the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement [NCA] was signed between the Karen National Union [KNU] and Burma/Myanmar government, civilians do not feel safe to meet with the Tatmadaw.

However, the Tatmadaw have not attacked [civilians recently] and civilians can now travel more freely than in the past [before the NCA]. Nevertheless, civilians are concerned for their security. They fear the Tatmadaw may take action against them anytime, so they do not cross into areas where the Tatmadaw is based without being accompanied by KNU guides or Karen National Deference Organisation [KNDO] members. 

The Tatmadaw have sent more rations and have strengthened their army bases in Kay Pu village tract area. They have also enlarged their territory in Kweh Kyo Hkoh area. The Tatmadaw are based in Khaw Daw Hkoh, Htee Htaw Per and Hsa Law Kyoh, Kay Pu village tracts. On January 25th 2018, the Tatmadaw sent one backhoe and a patrol truck for road construction [for military purposes]. On January 18th 2018, the Tatmadaw sent more rations with 25 trucks [to Kay Pu village tract]. The Tatmadaw put food beside the civilian road in Show Hkoh area, including five sacks and 15 cans of rice, and 15 litres in one gallon of oil, but the civilians did not take the food.

Part 4 - Permission for Using the Details

Did the victim(s) provide permission to use this information? Explain how that permission was provided.

The interviewee gave permission to KHRG to use the information that he provided for publication so that KNU leaders and Karen people in foreign countries are aware of current Tatmadaw activities.
 
Thu, 21 Jun 2018

Footnotes: 

[1] KHRG trains community members in southeastern Burma/Myanmar to document individual incidents of abuse using a standardised reporting format; conduct interviews with other villagers; and write general updates on the situation in areas with which they are familiar. When writing incident reports, community members are encouraged to document incidents of abuse that they consider to be important, by verifying information from multiple sources, assessing for potential biases and comparing to local trends.

[2] In order to increase the transparency of KHRG methodology and more directly communicate the experiences and perspectives of villagers in southeastern Burma/Myanmar, KHRG aims to make all field information received available on the KHRG website once it has been processed and translated, subject only to security considerations. For additional reports categorised by Type, Issue, Location and Year, please see the Related Readings component following each report on KHRG’s website.

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