The secretive and repressive Burmese military junta operating from behind the bamboo curtain has a number of agendas. Top among them is ethnic cleansing – or the process of Burmanization of ethnic areas. No measure, however, harsh is spared to achieve this end. Rape, loot, land confiscation, marriage, religious discrimination and forced labour are all used with telling effect. Take for instance a region like Putao situated in the northernmost part of Burma's in Kachin state set in a picturesque landscape in the foothills of Burma's highest mountain the Khakaburazi. Putao is one of Burma's most attractive tourist sites, with its snowcapped mountains, beautiful scenery, woods, orchards and its biting cold. The main transportation to Putao is by air.
Jinghpaw, Lisu, Shan and Rawang are the four native ethnic people of Putao. Down history there have been sustained efforts at wresting control of this piece of paradise. The Rawangs have been treated as political elites by successive dictators of the Junta starting from the General Ne Win era. The Rawangs had tried to form an armed grouping in Putao, like so many other ethnic groups elsewhere in Burma, but for one reason or another failed. In all these years that Burma has been in strife the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), its armed wing the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and on the other hand the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDAK), former Army Division N0. (101) of Communist Party of Burma (CPB) have been trying to control Putao but neither has met with much success till now.
With the arrival of the current military junta commander, Maj-Gen Ohn Myit in Kachin State in late 2005, the pro-junta Rawang militia dubbed the Rebellion Resistance Force (RRF) was set up in 2006 with the backing of the Burmese military leader known for his shrewd politics.
The junta's game plan for Putao and the Kachin state at large crystallized soon after the 1994 ceasefire agreement between the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) and the military regime. The first step was military expansion and thereby slowly taking control. Before the ceasefire was signed the Burma Army's presence was restricted to No 46 Infantry battalion (Kha La Ya). Now there has come to stay Infantry Battalion No. 137 and No. 138 and the Transport and the Local Strategic Command. Now the military junta is bent on having the 2nd Northern Command Headquarters in Putao.
The junta to wrest control of Putao has resorted to the ''divide and rule'' policy so effectively used by the colonial British. The Rawangs have been given more credibility and importance than the other three tribes and are the favoured ones.
Having done that, the military junta set forth with its Burmaization of the region systematically, both at the social level and at the economic level. In Kachin state which is predominantly populated with Christians slowly but surely the generals introduced Buddhism. Burmese soldiers based in Putao were encouraged to marry local women. Inter religion marriages helps in transforming the woman and the child she gives birth to become Buddhists. Parents of the young were influenced and encouraged to send their children to the Border Tribes Development School run by Buddhists where education and accommodation for the school going is free. And this helped win over many in the Christian Rawang and Lisu tribes.
Religious discrimination between the Christians and the Buddhists practiced by the junta has been another potent weapon to help its programme of systematic ethnic cleansing.
There have been other methods in use to subjugate the local population. Among the most potent is rape followed by human rights abuses, banning prevalent local life styles, forced labour, mass land confiscation of locals rendering them economically ineffective. Even compounds and precincts owned by churches have not been spared. This also helped expanding military bases.
Other methods brought into play is mass recruitment of youth into the Burma Army, albeit forcibly. Civilians of up to a certain age, youths and students from middle and high schools have been forced to join the military sometimes being way laid by soldiers and taken to training camps. They have been flown to Naypyidaw and lower Burma in military aircrafts for training. In other words civilians are being preyed on by the junta.
Ironic though it may seem picturesque Putao is home to one of the biggest prisons in Burma where political prisoners from all over the country are detained. One of its most illustrious detainees is former powerful Prime Minister Khin Nyunt who was a victim of a purge by the junta.
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About the author: The author is a veteran journalist from India and has been in major newspapers as a Reporter, Deputy Chief of Bureau, News Coordinator, Op-ed and Edit writer.
