DHAKA (THE DAILY STAR / ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – In July of this year, the Tatmadaw embarked on a wave of deadly revenge in Keni Township, a sort of stronghold for forces opposing the ruling military junta.

The People’s Defense Forces, a militia of civilian groups fighting for democracy, had previously stepped up anti-military activities in the area, including clashes with soldiers. The result was the brutal and ruthless slaughter of the township residents by the Tatmadaw. In multiple attacks in July 2021, Burmese soldiers went door-to-door in four villages – Yin, Zee Bin Dwin, Taungbauk and Shikoetat Forest, rounding up the men, torturing them with rifle butts, striking with stones, then burying their mutilated bodies, sometimes half-alive, in shallow graves.

At least 40 bodies were found in mass graves in the four villages, including a small body, most likely that of a child. Among those murdered was a 60-year-old man, who had been tied to a plum tree and tortured for hours – the many marks on his lifeless body testify to the untold horrors he had to endure in his final hours. Some of the soldiers involved in the bloody murders were only 17-18 years old. Myanmar’s military junta did not deny the allegations, saying, “It can happen… When they treat us as enemies, we have the right to defend ourselves.

The comment by General Zaw Min Tun, Burmese Deputy Minister of Information and military spokesperson, bodes ill for the future of democracy and human rights in the country.

The Burmese junta has carried out multiple airstrikes since December 22 on the town of Lay Kay Kaw in Karen State in southeast Myanmar, a stronghold of the Karen National Union. This was the result of new raids by military soldiers to subdue the Karen fighters, protesting against military rule. The clashes since last week and the air raids that followed – in which the army not only fired artillery at residents but also dropped bombs – have resulted in the displacement of more than 4,200 Karen people, who fled to Thailand. Unofficial estimates put it at nearly 10,000. Some shells even landed on the Thai side, according to The Irrawaddy news site.

The Tatmadaw, in a quick coup, overthrew the democratically elected government of the National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi in the early hours of February 1, 2021. Since then, the country has been plunged into a state of turmoil. bloody struggle. between usurpers and civilians calling for the return of democracy. At least 1,300 protesters and civilians have been killed since then, as conflicts between the two sides continue, according to data from the Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners – a human rights organization based in Thailand and the United States. Myanmar – quoted by British media The Independent.

Countless children have also fallen victim to the atrocities committed by the Tatmadaw. An April 2021 BBC report, citing Save the Children, found that since February 2021 at least 43 children have been killed in Myanmar by the country’s military. The Tatmadaw not only unleashed a bloody nightmare on civilians, but also ensured that they did not have access to medical care, as they attacked hospitals and medical staff treating the protesters’ injuries.

In response to the attacks on the Karen community, the Ambassadors, Chargers and Heads of Mission of Australia, Canada, the Delegation of the EU and the Member States of the European Union present in Myanmar-Czech Republic, in Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, as well as New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States United, signed a joint statement in which they reiterated “condemnation of the serious human rights violations committed by the military regime throughout the country” and called on the “regime to immediately cease indiscriminate attacks in Karen State and throughout the country, and to ensure the safety of all civilians in accordance with international law “.

While the international community has condemned the misadventures of the Burmese military after the coup, with the United States and some other countries even imposing sanctions against the military generals involved, the measures are too few, too late.

Myanmar has a history of bloody military rule and repression of civilians. From the regime of General Ne Win to the dissolution of the military regime in 2011, the country has been the scene of numerous clashes between soldiers and civilians. Meanwhile, the Rohingya, along with other minority groups, including the Karen and Kachins, have been systematically cornered and persecuted by the country’s military. The Rohingya in particular had been forced to endure attempted genocide and ethnic cleansing by the country’s military. And the Tatmadaw continued these atrocities almost unchecked, with discreet and focused responses from the international community.

Over the years, the Tatmadaw has wielded tremendous power and in doing so, amassed even more of it. The vicious crimes of the Tatmadaw now resemble deja vu, it sometimes even recalls Nietzsche’s philosophy of the Eternal Return: “This life as you live it and have lived it, you will have to live it once more and countless times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everything that is unspeakably small or big in your life will have to come back to you, all in the same succession and sequence – even this spider and that moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and myself. The eternal hourglass of existence is overturned again and again, and you with it, speck of dust!

The international community’s silence on the ethnic cleansing of minority communities in Myanmar and, at the height of their heightened trade linked to the Burmese military, held conglomerates and commercial holdings – some countries also invested directly in the economic zones of Myanmar. Myanmar, built on land once owned by the now uprooted Rohingya, has given them not only recognition but also the economic resources to continue their nefarious activities.

In addition, the inaction of the majority in persecuting minority communities also added to the power of the Tatmadaw. The communal division in Myanmar has created the right environment for the military to continue to belligerently violate the basic human rights of its people.

The Tatmadaw has transformed into a monster – a Wendigo to be precise – which now feeds on its own people to quench its insatiable urge for human flesh. And now this monster cannot be controlled, neither with sanctions nor any other form of threats from external actors. The only way to contain this monster is to create a united internal front against it.

Only the Burmese people, majority or minority, without distinction of religion or ethnicity, can resist the crimes of this monster and put an end to its killing. This is the only way out for civilians.

But the question remains, can the people of Myanmar rise above their communal divisions for the greater benefit of the nation, of future generations? Only time will tell.

• Tasneem Tayeb is a columnist for The Daily Star. The Daily Star is a member of the media partner of the Straits Times Asia News Network, an alliance of 23 media organizations.