Myanmar Spring Chronicle – April 11 Scenes
MoeMaKa, April 12 2023
The military council bombarded a village in Kanbalu Township, killing nearly a hundred people
On April 11, at around 7:30 in the morning, in a village called Pazigyi in Kanbalu Township, Sagaing Division, while they were preparing to hold the opening ceremony of the people’s administration office, the military council air force dropped bombs with fighter jet on them. According to news reports, at least 60 to at most 100 people, including women and children from the village, and members of the people’s defense forces who attended the event, were killed.
A newly built wooden building had no fences left, only the pillars were left empty, the blue iron sheet roofs were broken into pieces like paper, scattered around the building, and some sheets were even seen on the trees nearby.
The sight of the bodies of some of the dead, whose shirts and clothes no longer stick to them, and some of the dead with their body pieces scattered on the ground, seems to have caught fire, showing that the bombs dropped by the fighter jet were so severe. Burnt motorcycles, parts of some buildings, people, and these scenes are not the usual ones seen in battles. Nothing that could be considered a weapon was seen on the victims, and the military council’s propaganda only alleged that they were all PDFs.
According to the reports in the news, it is true that the members of the village defense forces and the PDFs were included, but the civilian women and children from the village who came to the opening ceremony were also included, and they were among the dead.
Should or should not hold an office opening
As for the People’s Defense Forces, it is controversial whether or not to open an office in an area where the enemy can attack from the ground or from the air at any time. There are also some statements that the actions of the military council must be pointed out, and why the victims are to be blamed. There are some critics who say that the blame should not be placed on the victims, but instead the military council’s brutality, including the killing of civilians without distinguishing them from members of the armed forces and treating entire villages as members of the armed forces and as supporters of the armed forces, through aerial bombardments that will cause a lot of casualties, must be condemned.
When conducting an armed revolution in military terms, if such an incident involving the loss of human lives occurs, the junta perpetrators must be held accountable, and it is true that the revolutionary forces are also responsible for preparing security plans for this incident and for reviewing the current incident in order to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
It is common practice internationally for officials to take responsibility, and responsibility and learning will be needed in the areas of forethought, preparation, and instructions to prepare actions that should be taken as protection for this kind of incident where many lives are lost.
Regarding the atrocities committed by the enemy, it is true that they will have to be held accountable and punished one day for those. It is also important for us to try and prepare so as not to lose the lives of the people, our anti-dictatorship forces, and their supporters as much as possible.
The excuse that there will be such loss of lives due to military dictatorship’s cruelties and that such incidents cannot be avoided, seems to not value human lives. In revolutions and wars, casualties are not directly related to victory, but if the lives of our troops or supporters are at stake, there may be a defect in a strategy or tactic related to the battle, so it is true that it is necessary to review and prepare. Losing lives and being able to expose the enemy’s brutality is a political advantage, but we should not misunderstand the idea that the sacrifices have brought us closer to success.
Now, if we consider the incident, it is true that it shows that the military dictator’s forces are losing their position to dominate the ground. On the side of the revolutionary forces, they are defenseless when they face an air attack, and it is true that there is a need in the areas of how to evade the air attack, and how to provide advance notice and protection.
Although it is not a comparable situation, there is a historical event to remember. During the decade-long US invasion of Vietnam, the United States carried out many airstrikes, sprayed chemicals from the air to destroy forests, dropped firebombs, and disproportionately bombed and destroyed not only the armed forces fighting the Americans, but also the villages inhabited by the civilians who supported them. After decades of fighting, the Vietnamese won. However, in the Vietnam War, in which more than 50,000 American soldiers died, the Vietnamese side lost millions of lives, both armed forces and civilians.