9th March 2021
Kneeling before them in the dust of a northern Myanmar city, Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng begged a group of heavily armed police officers to spare “the children” and take her life instead.
The image of the Catholic nun in a simple white habit, her hands spread, pleading with the forces of the country’s new junta as they prepared to crack down on a protest, has gone viral and won her praise in the majority-Buddhist country.
“I knelt down … begging them not to shoot and torture the children, but to shoot me and kill me instead,” she said on Tuesday.
This happened in Myitkyina the capital of Kachin State.
Moments later, as she was begging for restraint, the police started firing into the crowd of protesters behind her. “The children panicked and ran to the front … I couldn’t do anything, but I was praying for God to save and help the children,” she said.
First, she saw a man shot in the head fall dead in front of her – then she felt the sting of tear gas.
“I felt like the world was crashing,” she said. “I’m very sad it happened as I was begging them.”
A local rescue team confirmed that two men were shot dead on the spot during Monday’s clash, though it did not confirm whether live rounds or rubber bullets were used.
Kachin, Myanmar’s northernmost state, is home to the Kachin ethnic group, and the site of a years-long conflict between ethnic armed groups and the military.
Tens of thousands have fled their homes to displacement camps across the state – and among the organizations aiding them have been Christian groups.
Source Asia Times 9th March 2021.
There is a strong Christian minority in Kachin, and it is noticeable that a couple of the police were praying with her.
There is also the possibility that it was smuggled over the border with Thailand by the Border Guard Forces (BGF). The BGFare subdivisions of the Tatmadaw comprising former insurgent groups in Myanmar under the instruction of Regional Military Commands and are very loosely monitored and commanded.
There are now reports coming in about Professor Sean Turnell the Australian advisor to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Professor Turnell, of Macquarie University, also advises the NLD on economic matters and is about to be charged with certain offences, exactly what we don’t know yet.
Myanmar’s coup leaders have accused Australian economic adviser Professor Sean Turnell of trying to flee the country with secret financial information following the Feb. 1 military takeover.
Thinking this through, how can an economics advisor do his job without having access to secret financial information? Pure speculation could be that he uncovered sensitive information about certain members of the military.
After being detained by the military regime for more than a month, the military controlled MRTV broadcaster on Monday said: “An attempt to flee the country by the former government’s foreign economic adviser, Sean Turnell, was stopped in time and secret state financial information was found through him.
“Union-level ministers are taking legal action,” the announcement said.
Source The Irrawaddy 9th March 2021.
In the meantime, the Australian Government has suspended its defence cooperation program with Myanmar.
In another unfortunate accident an NLD supporter died after having been arrested.
Ko Zaw Myat Lin, who was in charge of Suu Vocational Institute in Shwe Pyi Thar Township of Yangon region, was arrested by security officers during a raid on the institute late Monday night.
His family was informed of his death Tuesday afternoon by township police when they asked his wife to identify his body at Mingaladon military hospital.
During the raid at vocational institute, three students and three local residents were arrested. Computers, vehicles, phones and money at the school were confiscated, according to Ko Min Wai, a teacher volunteering at the school. The school has offered free training courses on computers, language, and mechanics to young people in Shwe Pyi Thar.
Ko Min Wai said that, according to the deceased’s wife, Ko Zaw Myat Lin suffered a large wound to the abdomen. The military claimed Ko Zaw Myat Lin was injured by a pointed object when he climbed over a fence while attempting to escape arrest.
Source The Irrawaddy 9th March 2021.
Pointed object? Random bayonet? Truncheon? Hmm.
The situation is now slowly changing as the Military are targeting poor areas now and terrorising the people into submission to try and get them back to work. It isn’t working.
Please share this article so that others can discover The BFD