Myanmar Spring Chronicle – June 06 Scenes
MoeMaKa, June 07, 2023
The military council troops were attacked at Natthankwin in Kyaukkyi Township; Persons who killed singer Li Li Naing Kyaw were arrested
It is said that KNU and PDF joint forces attacked the police station and security outposts where the military council troops were stationed in Natthankwin Village in Kyaukkyi Township, Taungoo District, Bago Division, killing a total of 10 military council troops and policemen. The news reported that the bridge crossing the Sittaung River was also blown up. In the attack, there were civilian casualties, and the military council fired with air support.
Kyaukkyi region in Taungoo District, where the majority of the Karen people live, has been the area of frequent armed clashes since before the KNU and U Thein Sein governments signed a ceasefire agreement in 2012. It is also the region where the military carries out arbitrary and unlawful killings whenever they want to. Before 2012, because of the strong activity of ethnic armed forces, this region was regarded as the black region by the military, and frequent bomb explosions, and attacks on military bases and convoys have occurred. In order to retaliate illegally, the military formed an illegal armed group named “Short Pant, containing military soldiers and officers, and conducted killings as retaliation without even needing to follow the law. As such, this region have a historical background of many events like that. It was an area where there have been many incidents where the local residents were killed by that ‘Short Pant’ group without any evidence, only by the presence of 2 batteries and 1 bite of wire in their hands.
At that time, there was a custom of giving all the power to the military and the police to check security when crossing the eastern and western sides of the Sittaung River. Now again, after the 2021 military coup, more intense battles and attacks have re-emerged in these areas than before.
Another news item today is the news that the singer Li Li Naing Kyaw, who was shot while getting out of her car while returning to her home in Yankin Township, died today, along with the news of the arrest of 2 residents of a dormitory in Kamayut Township who were allegedly accused of killing that singer by the military council. The news also reported that the singer Li Li Naing Kyaw was shot with a pistol by two youths from an armed group in the city because she was a national movement activist and a supporter of the military.
The targets are usually the Mabatha nationalist activists who actively support the military council, the party organizers, the chairman and secretary of the USDP party, the military soldiers, the police, and some non-CDM government employees. In this incident, singer Li Li Naing Kyaw is known to be a supporter of YMBA and a national movement activist, and it can be concluded that she was chosen as a target because she is close to senior officers in the military. Now, a press release from the military council reports that former student union leader D Nyein Lin gave information to the perpetrators and instructed them to kill Li Li Naing Kyaw.
Another piece of news for today is the news that Thailand has cut electricity supply to Shwe Koke Ko, and Mae Htaw Thalay near new town of Lay Kay Kaw, which are areas controlled by the BGFs in Myawaddy Township, starting today.
Thailand has been selling electricity to places near Shwe Koke Ko in Myanmar where casinos, gambling businesses, and online financial fraud are being carried out for a few years. Businesses that commit crimes through casinos and online have an impact on regional countries. Citizens of countries in ASEAN and India are being recruited by deception, then tortured and sold into slavery. It is to be wondered whether Thailand has stopped selling electricity because it has become a notorious place for financial fraud and extortion.
Some news media investigated and reported that as the BGFs in Myawaddy Township control those businesses, some of the businesses and profits are being enjoyed by some authorized persons or groups among the Karen ethnic armed groups. Initially, they started as a gambling business, and after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, transnational crimes, online fraud, kidnapping, and extortion have expanded from the gambling industry. Therefore, the governments of the region have put them under pressure. Myanmar’s situation with political problems and armed conflicts, is becoming like giving land to those who commit such crimes. In the territory controlled by armed groups in Myanmar, bordering Thailand, which can be said to have the rule of law, criminal gangs that are spreading trouble internationally are based there and are operating.