Type of Incident

BGF mining stone and damaging farms

Date of Incident(s)

March 1st 2013

Incident Location

(Village, Township and District)

M--- village, Paw village tract, Paingkyon Township, Hpa-an District

Victim Information

Name

Naw T---

Age

60

Sex

Female

Nationality

Pwo Karen

Family   

Married

Occupation

Farming

Religion

Buddhist

Position

Villager

Village

M---

Perpetrator Information

Name(s)              

Rank

Unit

Base

Commander’s Name

Officer Lah Thay

Battalion Commander

BGF [Border Guard Force][3] Battalion #1017

Ko Ko

Maung Chit Thu

1. Explain in detail how you collected this information.

On April 6th 2013, I went to M--- village and met with some of M---’s villagers, including a farm owner who has suffered because of this incident. I asked her about the stone mining occurring beside her farm. She told me that Officer [Battalion Commander] Lah Thay came and mined for stone beside her farm and he did not inform her. She told me that she dares not tell anyone because she worries that people will harm her.

2. Explain how the source verified this information.

Regarding this incident, the female farm owner worries that if BGF Officer [Battalion Commander] Lah Thay continues mining [in the same area] the cliff will completely erode and destroy her farm. Therefore, she told me what she saw and the information is true.

Describe the Incident(s) in complete detail. For each incident, be sure to include 1) when the incident happened, 2) where it happened, 3) what happened, 4) how it happened, 5) who was involved, and 6) why it happened. Also describe any villager response(s) to the incident, the aftermath and the current living situation of the victims. Please use the space prepared below, and create an attachment if needed.

The incident happened on March 1st 2013, beside M--- village, usually called S--- [by local people]. BGF Officer [Battalion Commander] Lah Thay went to mine stone and rock to sell to road construction [companies]. He hired Burmese people to come and split the stone. He hires them for daily [labour] and pays them per basket. The place which is shown in the photos [below] is located above Naw T---’s farm and is where they started working. If they continue to mine there, the entire cliff will erode and damage [Naw T---‘s] farm. Lay Hkaw Htees are farms that are located along the bottom of a cliff. Those farms are not owned by one person, instead there are many owners. They [farmers] work on them one [villager] per plot. The other land owners [next to Naw T---’s plot] are also worried, [as their plots were damaged too]. This land owner [Naw T---] tried to report it to the village leaders and the [local] BGF leader whom she knows. She asked people [village elders] to assist her to tell the BGF Officer [Battalion Commander] Lah Thay to consider [the damage done] and provide fair compensation for her farm. However, I have not heard any answer [about whether they will receive compensation] yet. They [villagers] all said that they would find a way to get compensation for their farms [which were damaged]. Moreover, all of the farm owners would gather together and go to the BGF’s top leaders. For their security, they will rely on some BGF leaders whom they are friendly with and also the village leaders. They will also inform the [local] monk about the incident. This is one of their strategies when they are suffering from difficult [issues].

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

The farm owners allowed us to use this information. The reason is because currently they are not afraid of the armed actors like they were in the past. So they asked us to help them stop this incident [from happening again] or help them receive compensation. Some farm owners have already attended a village agency workshop conducted by KHRG.[4] They will consider it [the incident] and write up a report and share it in future workshops.