Funeral of a Myanmar born Chinese, Khant Nyar Hein, 18, today. He was a fresh year student of University of Medicine. He was shot dead by the security forces on last Saturday. Photo credit: Md Jamal Photography @mdjamal315|Twitter
Yangon/Geneva/New York: Despite international condemnation, killings by military junta continues unabated in Myanmar. Today in Hlaing Thar Yar, Yangon security forces shot a young woman in the head. The head was split into two. There were further reports of security forces even shooting monks, besides women and children, in the country.
The mother of Khant Nyar Hein, an eighteen-year-old medical student who was shot dead during a protest against the military coup, mourn over their son’s body during a funeral service in Yangon, #Myanmar, 16 March 2021. #MyanmarCoup #Mar16Coup pic.twitter.com/PGEF0m1Ssx
— Thaw Thaw Han (@ThawTha15099287) March 16, 2021
The junta today declared the martial law in some townships of Yangon and Mandalay, and the military’s snipers have taken positions at different locations. The declaration of martial law in a number of townships in and around Yangon and Mandalay means that under these terms, military law would apply to civilians with both stricter curfews and subjecting offenders to military tribunals with no right of appeal, according to the United Nations Human Rights.
A tweet by Suthar Pinsy @PinsyS showed military snipers taking position on the top of a construction site near Kamayut, Yangon police station today evening.
#Myanmar military’s snipers have taken positions on the top of a construction site near Kamayut, Yangon police station this evening to kill innocent civilians. #whatshappeninginmyanmar #milkteaalliance #mar16coup pic.twitter.com/WD0t9sHJdW
— SutharPinsy🇲🇲 (@PinsyS) March 16, 2021
Reports further suggest that mobile internet remains disconnected in the country after the military shut down the internet line and operator wifi three days ago.
In Geneva, Ravina Shamdasani, the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), today stated that the death toll had soared over the past week in Myanmar, “where security forces have been using lethal force increasingly aggressively against peaceful protesters, and continue to arbitrarily arrest and detain people throughout the country”.
The OHCHR stated that deeply distressing reports of torture in custody had also emerged. “Hundreds of people who have been unlawfully detained remain unaccounted for and have not been acknowledged by the military authorities, and this amounts to enforced disappearances,” Shamdasani said.
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According to the OHCHR, confirming information was becoming increasingly difficult, particularly with the imposition of martial law in a number of townships in and around Yangon and in Mandalay, but also because many of the working class neighbourhoods where people had been killed and displaced were easier to cut off through State-imposed communication blackouts.
“We have, however, managed to confirm that at least 149 people have been arbitrarily deprived of their lives since 1 February, as a result of unlawful use of lethal force against peaceful protestors in Myanmar. Of these, at least 11 were killed on Monday, and 57 over the weekend. There are many more reports of further killings that we have been not been able to corroborate yet,” the OHCHR stated. It informed that these figures included people killed during a violent crackdown in the Hlaing Tharyar, a township in Yangon, by security forces after unknown actors set fire to Chinese-operated or invested factories.
Arrests and detentions have continued throughout the country, with more than 2,084 people remaining arbitrarily detained. At least 37 journalists have been arrested, of whom 19 remain in arbitrary detention. At least five deaths in custody have occurred in recent weeks, and at least two victims’ bodies have shown signs of severe physical abuse indicating that they were tortured.
“We are deeply disturbed that the crackdown continues to intensify, and we again call on the military to stop killing and detaining protestors. As the High Commissioner has stressed, all those with influence have a responsibility to take measures to bring an end to this State violence against the Myanmar people,”Shamdasani said.
The country saw a a weekend filled with bloodshed, and the UN Human Rights Office informed on March 15, 2021 that till then at least 138 peaceful protestors, including women and children, had been killed in the violence since February 1, this year. This included 38 people who were killed on Sunday March 14, the majority in the Hlaing Thayer area of Yangon, while 18 people were killed on Saturday.
The World Health Organisation has expressed concerns over the developments in Myanmar where people have been denied access to essential health services, and where health facilities have been destroyed and health workers have been attacked and intimidated. “This must stop,” it has stated.
UNICEF in Myanmar too condemned the use of force against children, including the use of live ammunition, and the arbitrary detention of children. and claimed that as of March 14, at least nine children had reportedly been killed and at least eight had been severely wounded, while more than 700 children had been arbitrarily detained. “Many of those arrested or detained are being held incommunicado, without access to legal counsel, which is a violation of their human rights,” the UN Secretary-General’s office informed in New York.
Earlier, the UN Women on March 12 had stated that till then six women were killed by the security forces and the junta had arrested close to 600 women, including young women, LGBTIQ+ and civil society activists. It had claimed that those in detention were also reportedly experiencing sexual harassment and violence.
‘Appalled’ by escalating violence in Myanmar at hands of country’s military, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has again urged the international communitry for “collective action” towards ending repression in the country. While condemning the ongoing violence against peaceful protesters and the continuing violation of the most basic human rights of the people of Myanmar, the Secretary-General last night (IST) renewed his call on the international community, including regional actors, to come together in solidarity with the people of Myanmar and their democratic aspirations.
Last week Guterres had also talked to the US Secretary of State about the prevailing situations in strife-torn Myanmar, Yemen and Afghanistan.
In a statement last night (IST), the Secretary-General stated that the killing of demonstrators, arbitrary arrests and the reported torture of prisoners violated fundamental human rights and stood in clear defiance of calls by the Security Council for restraint, dialogue and a return to Myanmar’s democratic path.
It may be mentioned that despite repeated efforts by the United Nations, the military junta has not yet allowed the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy to visit the country as an effort to calm down the situation and set the stage for dialogue and a return to democracy.
“The Secretary-General will continue to stand with the people of Myanmar and their democratic aspirations,” the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in New York.
– global bihari bureau
