MYANMAR’S MILITARY CONTINUES to target Catholic and Baptist churches in Chin state, a predominantly Christian area in the Buddhist-majority Southeast Asian country.
The latest reported incident was on August 31 when soldiers, who had been camping for the last two months at a Baptist church in Taal village of Falam township, threw away Bibles and hymn books before they left, leaving behind rubbish and leftover food.
More than 150 people in the village were forced to flee their homes as the soldiers destroyed homes and took away their cattle. Those who fled were unable to return to their homes, according to Church sources.
Some soldiers occupying St. John Catholic Church in the village of Chat, Mindat township, reportedly took away the consecrated host, opened the tabernacle and destroyed the locked cabinets. Photos shared by residents showed the open tabernacle and the destroyed cabinets, as well as clothes and other items scattered on the floor.
The soldiers also destroyed Bibles and the generator at a Baptist church in Chat.
Christians in ethnic minority areas such as Kachin, Kayah and Chin states have historically faced oppression and persecution during the more than five decades of iron-fisted military rule.
The army’s latest occupation of the churches and destruction of homes in the villages is a result of intensified fighting between the military and local civil resistance groups in the impoverished Chin state.
The army’s latest occupation of the churches and destruction of homes in the villages is a result of intensified fighting between the military and local civil resistance groups in the impoverished Chin state
Various Protestant Churches condemned the disrespectful acts of the soldiers, including the consumption of alcohol inside the places of worship, and called it a violation of the Geneva Convention.
The Institute of Chin Affairs, an India-based group of ethnic Chin people, has called for an end to acts against international humanitarian and human rights law.
At least 108 ethnic Chin people, including 14 children, seven women, 57 civilians and 51 from civil resistance groups have been killed by the soldiers since the February 1 coup, according to the institute.
Charles Cardinal Bo of Yangon has denounced the Myanmese junta saying that they have failed in their leadership and responsibilities, and are “sowing death and despair by pitting the laws and regulations of their head against the people’s heart.”
Charles Cardinal Bo of Yangon has denounced the Myanmese junta saying that they have failed in their leadership and responsibilities
In a homily on August 29, the cardinal said, “Go beyond the law into love; move from the legalistic, law-oriented mind towards love-oriented heart.”
Thousands of people have fled into jungles and displacement camps while others, mostly Christians, have taken refuge in churches since fighting flared up in Chin state in May.
Fighting has been escalating between the military and ethnic armed groups and resistance groups in Chin, Kayah, Kachin, Karen and Shan states since February, leading to more than 200,000 people being displaced.
Meanwhile, ultranationalist Buddhist monk and leader of the defunct Ma Ba Tha group, Ashin Wirathu, notorious for his anti-Muslim rhetoric, was released from prison by the military junta on September 6, after it dropped all charges against him without giving any reasons.
Wirathu was still receiving treatment at a military hospital, according to local media reports citing the junta’s spokesperson.
No further information was available about the monk, who is said to have close links to the junta, though he had complained about ill-treatment while in prison in a video released on social media.
Dubbed the “Burmese Bin Laden,” Wirathu was charged under the sedition law in 2019 for making speeches criticising ousted leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and her National League for Democracy (NLD) government. An arrest warrant was posted at his monastery in the northern city of Mandalay on 9 July 2019. He turned up at a police station in Yangon in November 2020 after being on the run for 18 months and had been awaiting trial since then.
His brand of extreme Buddhist nationalism and anti-Muslim rhetoric fuelled riots nationwide in 2013 and 2014.
He was barred from giving sermons for one year in March 2017 due to his hate speech and banned from Facebook in January 2018 because of incendiary posts. UCAN
