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မြန်မာThis Photo Set 96-A, including Ye-Tavoy railway construction, the shelling of Wah Baw village, and ongoing SLORC abuses in Taungoo District and south of Kawkareik. The photos relate to information in the following KHRG reports:
This document gives descriptions for Photo Set 96-A, including Ye-Tavoy railway construction, the shelling of Wah Baw village, and ongoing SLORC abuses in Taungoo District and south of Kawkareik. The photos relate to information in the following KHRG reports:
Photos #1,2: Mon villagers doing forced labour on the Ye-Tavoy railway in May 1995 ['Ye-Tavoy']. In Photo #1, note the Burmese soldier on the left guarding them with a G3 assault rifle. In Photo #2, the man at far left in light blue civilian clothes and Army hat is an Army guard, carrying a cane whipping-stick to use on people who don't work hard enough. [Photos: independent source]
Photos #3,4: Mon villagers doing forced labour on the Ye-Tavoy railway in rainy season, July/August 1995 ['Ye-Tavoy']. Note that most of the workers are women and children. In Photo #3, the armed SLORC guard can be seen in the middle of the photo. Photo #4 shows the futility of forcing villagers to build embankments in rainy season - the muddy embankments often collapse on top of people as soon as they're built. [Photos: independent source]
Photos #5,6: SLORC soldiers with civilian porters, Mon area, August 1995 ['Ye-Tavoy']. Under the SLORC-NMSP ceasefire of June 1995, SLORC agreed not to take any more porters or porter fees in Mon area. However, they continue to violate the agreement, using the excuse that "the agreement is only between the two Armies, but the porters are being taken by the Township LORCs, which are not covered by the ceasefire terms." [Photo: independent source]
Photos #7: A field outside Wah Baw village, Yay Hla Mine Township, Mon State, where over 1,000 Karen villagers had gathered to celebrate Karen New Year on December 21, 1995. A few minutes after this photo was taken, two columns of SLORC troops attacked the village and fired dozens of 60-mm. mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenades into the field ['Wah Baw']. Everyone fled and no one was killed by the shelling, but in the village one villager was tortured and executed, another was deliberately kneecapped with a rifle shot, a house was burned down, and the entire village was looted as well as the celebration field. The attack force consisted of 240 troops from #106 and #343 Light Infantry Battalions. Looting appears to have been the motivation for the attack. [Photo: independent source]
Photo #8: Villagers fleeing the shelling of the celebration field at Wah Baw. ['Wah Baw', photo: independent source]
Photo #9: A sick girl who collapsed while trying to flee the shelling. The soldier on the right is a KNLA soldier. There were some KNLA soldiers at the celebration, but they did not return fire for fear that SLORC would then destroy the entire village if they did. Witnesses say the SLORC troops in the village were not looking for KNLA, only to loot. ['Wah Baw', photo: independent source]
Photo #10: A man caught in Wah Baw village by SLORC, ordered down out of his house and then deliberately shot in the kneecap for no apparent reason. ['Wah Baw', photo: independent source]
Photo #11: The house in Wah Baw burned during the SLORC attack. ['Wah Baw', photo: independent source]
Photo #12: Unexploded SLORC rocket-propelled grenade, found in the middle of the celebration field when the villagers returned later. ['Wah Baw', photo: independent source]
Photo #13: Body of a dead civilian porter found in a fallow ricefield near Saw Wah Der village, Taungoo District, on 16 October 1995. He was killed by SLORC Infantry Battalion #26, commanded by Lt. Col. Myint Aung. Note that the skull (foreground) is separate from the body, indicating that he was probably beheaded by the soldiers. The killing probably happened less than a month earlier, but the skull is already bare due to rapid decomposition in the tropical climate. It will never be possible to say who this man was or where he came from. His family probably has no idea what happened to him or why he disappeared. ['Field'; photo: Saw M. / Burma Issues]
Photo #14: Karen girl shot by SLORC for trying to run away, Taungoo District, November 1995. Fortunately, she was only grazed under the arm. ['Field'; photo: Saw M. / Burma Issues]
Photos #15-17: Village burned by SLORC, Taungoo District, November 1995. Since 1995 rainy season, SLORC has been systematically destroying villages and food supplies throughout Taungoo district as they intensify their "Four Cuts" program to cut off contact between villagers and the few opposition forces still remaining in the area. ['Field'; photo: Saw M. / Burma Issues]
Photo #18: Rice which had already been harvested, burned by SLORC in December 1995 in Taungoo District in order to starve villagers and opposition forces. ['Field'; photo: Saw M. / Burma Issues]
Photo #19: Karen villagers in Taungoo District winnowing what rice they could salvage after SLORC burned their rice harvest, December 1995. Note the blackened remnants of what was burned in the background. ['Field'; photo: Saw M. / Burma Issues]
Photos #20-22: Karen villagers fleeing into the forests where they are living as displaced people, Taungoo District. After the killings, burnings of their homes and food supplies and forced relocation orders, they have no choice but to flee into hiding in the forests, taking along whatever rice they managed to hide or save from the burnings. They are now living in desperate condition. If SLORC patrols find them in the forest, they will either be taken as porters or summarily executed as "rebels". They cannot escape to Thailand, because SLORC has the escape routes almost completely blocked off. ['Field'; photo: Saw M. / Burma Issues]
Photo #23: Pu Khee village, Than Daung Township, Taungoo District. This Karen village is now completely abandoned - all the villagers have had to flee into the forest in fear of SLORC attacks. ['Field'; photo: Saw M. / Burma Issues]
Photo #24: "Naw Paw Htoo", age 37, showing the lasting scars from when she was shot in both legs by SLORC soldiers in December 1994 ['Kya-In', p. 16-17; 'Dooplaya', p. 2]. She was sleeping in her house with her mother and sister when SLORC soldiers surrounded the house at midnight and opened fire, killing her sister and hitting her and her mother several times. The soldiers apparently believed her father was inside and suspected him, though he is just a farmer. He was not even at home - he was sleeping in a field hut. "Naw Paw Htoo" and her mother could only get into hospital with a letter from the SLORC commander responsible for shooting them - the letter said they were shot by Karen soldiers. They spent a month in hospital, then on returning home had to flee their village because SLORC was going to arrest them again. They now have to live in hiding in another area. [Photo: KHRG]
Photo #25: "Pi Eh Wah", age 56, who is "Naw Paw Htoo"'s mother (see photo #24), showing where a G3 bullet entered her back in the shooting. The bullet went right through her. [Photo: KHRG]
Photo #26: "Naw Say Wah", age 22, and her 2 daughters aged 3 months and 3 years ['Kya-In', p. 4]. Her husband was tortured to death by SLORC soldiers in mid-December 1995, just 4 days before this photo was taken. [Photo: KHRG]
Photo #27: "Naw Lah K'Paw", age 40, and her only surviving son, age 4. Her husband was tortured, executed and thrown into a stream by SLORC soldiers in April 1995. ['Kya-In', p. 16,11-15; photo: KHRG]
Photos #28-30: Ka Doh Hta village, Kawkareik Township. At 3 a.m. on 7 November 1995, 300 SLORC troops surrounded the village. At 4:30 a.m. they occupied it, captured all villagers who didn't escape and detained them while they looted the village, systematically burned rice supplies, destroyed household utensils, then burned several houses. The villagers were then forced to carry loads to Kawkareik, where they arrived the next day only to be detained in deep pits in the ground at a camp of IB 230 and 231. Several villagers were then beaten before being released. In photo #30, the leaf roof has been burned off the top of a house but the walls didn't catch fire. ['Field'; Photo: KORD]
Photos #31-33: Win Kat village, Kyone Doh Township. A skirmish between SLORC and KNLA occurred here on 22 November 1995, causing the villagers to flee the village. After the fighting ended, the SLORC troops from Infantry Battalion 230 looted the houses of all valuables, food, tools and utensils, smashed jugs and pots, and burned several houses to the ground. On the wall of one house they looted they scratched "IB 230" in charcoal as a taunt. Photos 32-33 show houses whose leaf roofs were set alight but the walls didn't burn. ['Field'; Photo: KORD]
Photo #34: Karen refugee who was with a friend on the Thai side of the Moei River about 20 km. north of Mae Sot in late December 1995, when both of them were attacked by a group of Burmese soldiers (not DKBA). They were tied up, beaten, knifed, and thrown into the Moei River to die. His friend died, but he managed to save himself and got to a refugee camp clinic. Burmese soldiers routinely cross the border in several areas now with virtual impunity, knowing that the Thai troops deployed to defend it don't dare fight them. Refugees and Thais alike dare not even go near the border anymore in some areas. [Photo: independent source]
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