S P E C I A L C R I S I S I S S U E

DAY OF SHAME
Military sends protesters deadly
message on Armed Forces Day

ISSUE 14, VOL. 10, April 1, 2021 l Issued every Thursday l mizzima.com

A
rmed Forces Day was a
reminder if any was needed
that the Myanmar generals
have lost the plot – claiming
they are protecting the country
while on the same day targeting the
Myanmar people in the cities and up
in the hills.
There is clearly a need for
accountability and a strong response
from the international community,
given the fate of the Myanmar people
is at stake.
Such a concern was voiced in a
statement by the UN Special Adviser
on the Prevention of Genocide,
Alice Wairimu Nderitu, and UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights,
Michelle Bachelet, on Sunday,
referring to the risk of further
atrocities and the need to bring the
Myanmar generals to account.
Bachelet and Nderitu called on
the military to immediately stop killing
the very people it has the duty to serve
and protect.
The Special Adviser and the High
Commissioner called on the Security
Council to take further steps, building
on its statement of 10 March 2021, and
for ASEAN and the wider international
community to act promptly to uphold
the responsibility to protect the
people of Myanmar from atrocity
crimes. While the State has the
primary responsibility to protect
its population, the international
community shares that responsibility,
and in cases where the State is
manifestly failing, the international
community “should take timely and
collective action in accordance with
the Charter of the United Nations to
protect civilian populations that are at
risk of atrocity crimes.”
Nderitu and Bachelet called for an
end to systemic impunity in Myanmar,
and ensure accountability for past
crimes and deter the most serious
international crimes from being
committed.
As they said: “The failure to
address the atrocity crimes the
military has committed in the past,
including against Rohingya and other
minorities, has brought Myanmar
to this terrible pass. There is no way
forward without accountability and
fundamental reform of the military.”
The senior officials urged
all parties – including defecting
officials, police and military officers
– to cooperate with international
mechanisms, including the
International Criminal Court and the
Human Rights Council’s Independent
Investigative Mechanism for
Myanmar, in fighting impunity in the
country.
This situation has also put at
further risk the already vulnerable
ethnic and religious minorities in
Myanmar, including the Rohingya.
This population has long suffered
horrific violence at the hands of the
Myanmar military with impunity, as
documented by the Independent
Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar
established by the Human Rights
Council.
EDITORIAL
WEEKLY
Editor In-Chief and Managing
Director
Soe Myint
Contributors
Sai Wansai,
Andrew Landen, Marc Jacob
MIZZIMA MAGAZINE
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 mizzima WEEKLY
NEWS & INSIGHT 14 UNICEF seeks protections as
Myanmar children die on the streets

3 EDITORIAL 16 World not tough enough on

Myanmar crisis: UN expert
6 IN FOCUS
17 Myanmar’s CDM movement
8 NEWS ROUNDUP nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize

10 DAY OF SHAME 18 Myanmar's rebel areas brace for

Military sends protesters deadly message thousands fleeing unrest
on Armed Forces Day
20 MEDIA
IPI welcomes the release of

10 Myanmar AP journalist, urges

release of others

21 PEOPLE IN THE NEWS

Myanmar beauty queen speaks out
against military takeover

22 Thailand faces meth trafficking

surge after Myanmar coup

24 Bangladesh defends use of fences

after Rohingya camp blaze

20

4 April 1, 2021
26 COVID-19 UPDATE
Half billion jabs given despite the BUSINESS
growing controversy over the
‘experimental’ vaccines 44 US, UK sanction Myanmar military
companies as crackdown continues
28 India slows vital vaccine exports as
cases soar 45 Thai firms struggle in Myanmar’s crisis

30 Bangladesh at 50: Booming 46 Asian markets mostly rise but inflation,

economy, shrinking rights virus fears cast shadow

32 Pandemic-hit US confronted anew

by mass shootings CULTURE & LIFESTYLE
34 Warming drives 'fundamental' 48 IN FOCUS
changes to ocean, scientists warn
50 Indian coin hunters dive for fortunes in
36 CHINA FOCUS the sacred Ganges
Facebook says cyber spies in China
targeted Uyghurs

38 UK denounces China sanctions over

Xinjiang as Western rift widens
40
40 Empower kids with digital access: UN
watchdog

42 ETHNIC NEWS ROUNDUPS

43 LAST WEEK IN NAY PYI TAW

Cover photo of Myanmar Commander in Chief Min Aung Hlaing saluting

his troops on Armed Forces Day 17 March 2021 by EPA

50

April 1, 2021 5
6 April 1, 2021
Protest against Myanmar Military Coup in London

M
yanmar nationals protest in Parliament Square in London, Britain, 27 March.
Hundreds of people from the Myanmar's community in London gathered to protest
against the scores of people killed by Myanmar security forces and to end the military
coup. Photo: EPA

April 1, 2021 7
 France's EDF says Myanmar dam project halted
over coup
A
n international consortium
has suspended a $1.5-billion
hydropower dam project in
Myanmar in response to last
month's military coup, consortium
member Electricite de France, a French
utility, said.
Nearly 250 people are confirmed
dead in protests since the February
1 military coup, according to tolls
compiled by NGOs, and more than
2,300 others have been arrested.
International condemnation from
Washington, Brussels and the United
Nations has so far failed to halt the
bloodshed.
"The project is suspended," an
EDF spokesman told AFP on Sunday of
Myanmar military brass hit with new US,
EU sanctions
T
he European Union and
the United States slapped
sanctions on top police and
military commanders linked
to last month's coup in Myanmar, as
pro-democracy demonstrators went
back to the streets in defiance of a
violent crackdown on protest.
The junta is increasingly using
deadly force to crush activists who
have risen up against the military's
ousting of civilian leader Aung San Suu
Kyi on February 1.
In a bid to pile international
pressure on the regime, the European
Union on Monday placed Myanmar
junta chief Min Aung Hlaing on an
assets freeze and visa ban blacklist.
Min Aung Hlaing is "responsible
for undermining democracy and the
rule of law in Myanmar", its official
8 April 1, 2021
the dam project.
The Shweli-3 671-megawatt
project, still at an early planning
stage, is run by a consortium of EDF
-- which is majority-owned by the
French state -- the Japanese Marubeni
conglomerate and local company
Ayeyar Hinthar.
NGOs welcomed the decision, with
Justice for Myanmar calling Shan state,
where Shweli-3 is located, a region
with "ongoing conflict and systemic
grave human rights violations".
In a letter to Justice for Myanmar
and published on the NGO's website,
EDF said "the respect of fundamental
human rights" was a condition for all
of its projects.
journal said.
The EU also hit nine other senior
military officers and the head of
Myanmar's election commission with
travel bans and asset freezes, in the
27-nation grouping's most extensive
response yet to the February 1 coup.
In Washington, the Treasury
Department sanctioned Myanmar's
police chief and an army special
operations commander, saying they
were responsible for using lethal force
against demonstrators.
When anti-coup protests began
the security forces did not use force
to counter demonstrators -- but since
Than Hlaing was made police chief
and deputy home affairs minister
on February 2 "Burma's police have
engaged in brutal acts of violence
against pro-democracy protesters,"
Several NGOs have also been
pushing French energy giant Total to
pull out of Myanmar, with Greenpeace
accusing the company of being one
of the military regime's main financial
contributors.
Total issued a statement Friday in
which it said it conducts its activities
"in a responsible fashion, with respect
for the law and for universal human
rights".
"We are concerned by the current
situation and we hope that a peaceful
resolution, reached through dialogue,
will allow the Myanmar people to
pursue their quest for peace and
prosperity," the statement said.
AFP
it said, using an alternate name for
Myanmar.
Army commander Aung Soe
was responsible for sending in
troops to confront protesters using
battlefield weapons and tactics,
"demonstrating that lethal force is
being used in a planned, premeditated
and coordinated manner against the
anti-coup protests," the Treasury
Department said.
The sanctions also named two
army infantry divisions involved in
putting down the protests.
Myanmar's top junta leaders are
already under US sanctions.
AFP
 Polish photographer detained covering Myanmar
protests released
A
Polish photojournalist
arrested in Myanmar while
covering anti-coup protests
was released Wednesday
after a 13-day detention and is set to
be deported, he said.
Robert Bociaga was arrested in
Shan State on March 11 while he was
shooting an anti-coup demonstration,
and images of him being surrounding
by the military were shared widely.
After 13 days in prison, he was told
to pay a fine of 200,000 Myanmar kyat
($140) and was released, he told AFP
Wednesday evening, after arriving in
Yangon in preparation for deportation
on Thursday morning.
"I am okay. I am very happy to be
out, but I am sad to leave Myanmar,"
he said, adding that immigration
officers were following him before his
flight.
Toddler survives Myanmar airstrike
that killed father
A
Myanmar toddler has
miraculously survived a bamboo hut of Saw Ta Eh Ka Lu Moo
weekend airstrike that killed
his father in their bamboo
hut near the coup-hit country's border
with Thailand.
The nation has been in turmoil
since the military ousted and detained
civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on
February 1, triggering mass protests
demanding a return to democracy.
On Saturday night, the Myanmar
military launched the first airstrikes in
Karen state in 20 years, hours after a
rebel group had seized a military base.
While Bociaga had covered
dozens of protests all over Shan State
since the February 1 coup, he was
wearing a face mask on the day he was
arrested.
"(The soldiers) didn't recognise
me as a foreigner -- they started hitting
me with their plastic batons," he said.
Once he was taken to the police
station, Bociaga was told that since
he wasn't on a media visa, he should
"only photograph pagodas and the
mountains."
The 29-year-old photojournalist
-- who has been published by CNN
and German newswire Deutsche Welle
-- also said he was treated well by the
police compared to the locals.
"I was giving my testimonies while
sitting on the chair -- the other people
were kneeling down with their hands
folded on their heads," he said.
Among the targets hit was the
Taw, almost three years old, who
lives in the Day Bu Doh valley with his
farmer parents.
"He was sitting on his dad's lap at
the time and the shrapnel from the
bomb killed his father. (The boy) has
lacerations to his neck and has some
fragments still in him," David Eubank
from the Free Burma Rangers told
AFP, saying the father, Saw Aye Lay
Htoo, 27, died instantly.
The Christian humanitarian group
runs a health clinic in the area and is
April 1, 2021
Bociaga told AFP the anti-coup
protesters were simply trying to make
their voices heard.
"They are risking their lives to
show to the world and the military
government that they don't accept
the coup," he said. "The prisons are
getting filled with Myanmar people."
Since the coup, more than 270
people have been killed, according to
a local monitoring group, which also
had reported before Wednesday's
prisoner release that some 2,400
people have been detained.
The military has a far lower death
toll at 164, and a junta spokesman
branded the victims as "violent
terrorist people" at a Tuesday news
conference in the capital Naypyidaw.
AFP
providing medical treatment to the
boy.
Eubank said medics will try to
remove the shrapnel pieces with
minor surgery.
"(The boy and his mother are) in
shock and sorrow. The little boy knows
he's got a dead father," he said.
Health workers are concerned the
little boy could develop an infection
from the metal fragments and are
giving him antibiotics.
AFP
9
10 April 1, 2021
 DAY OF SHAME
Military sends protesters deadly
message on Armed Forces Day
Andrew Landen

T
he death toll was horrifying. Over 100 civilians shot dead or beaten to
death by Myanmar’s security forces on the 76th Armed Forces Day,
a day that is supposed to honour the Military’s protective role in the
country.

And – shockingly - the casualty count, which may have exceeded 114
dead, included the deaths of a 5-year-old boy, two 13-year-old boys and a
14-year-old girl, and the injury of a one-year-old baby hit with a rubber bullet.

From a podium in the grand parade ground in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar
Commander in Chief Min Aung Hlaing started Armed Forces Day lauding
the role of the Military, stressing the importance the body has in “protecting
democracy” in Myanmar.

Against a backdrop of troops, military vehicles and missiles, the Myanmar

junta leader once again defended his coup – wresting control from Aung San
Suu Kyi’s elected civilian government on 1 February - and pledging to yield
power after new elections, though no date has yet been set.

As soldiers stood to attention, Commander in Chief Min Aung Hlaing

used the occasion to issue another threat to the anti-coup movement that
has gripped the country since he took charge, warning that acts of "terrorism
which can be harmful to state tranquility and security" were unacceptable.

"The democracy we desire would be an undisciplined one if they pay no

respect to and violate the law," he said.

Myanmar Commander in Chief Min Aung Hlaing reviews his troops on Armed Forces Day, a day that many are
referring to as a "day of shame" due to the bloodshed his security forces caused. Photo: EPA

April 1, 2021 11
 BLOOD ON HIS HANDS
Yet the time for Commander Min
Aung Hlaing to honor himself is long
over.
The commander has the blood
of men, women and children on
his hands as his security forces run
amok killing, maiming, torturing and
arresting people, from the streets of
Yangon to the far-flung hills of the
ethnic states.
The total death toll is now over
400, with hundreds injured, and
thousands detained, in the weeks
since the 1 February coup.
This Armed Forces Day – 27 March
While VIPs dined and celebrated in Nay Pyi Taw, the security forces
attached people in many parts of Myanmar. Photos: Screenshots
12
2021 - arguably marks a turning point
in the history of Myanmar’s armed
forces, the beginning of the end of
any legitimacy the Military can claim in
safeguarding the country.
As the reports came in during the
day of dozens of deaths, the message
was clear – Commander in Chief Min
Aung Hlaing is at war with his own
people.
LOST DREAM
The 76th Armed Forces Day
will go down in history as the day
the late General Aung San’s dream
was dashed, a final reminder, if
one was needed, that decades of
April 1, 2021
Military junta rule – and their current
2008 Constitution and “disciplined
democracy” - have miserably failed
the people of Myanmar.
There is little doubt that Bogyoke
Aung San – the Father of the Nation
– would be shocked. Armed Forces
Day commemorates the start of local
resistance by him and his forces
to the Japanese occupation during
World War II. It usually accompanies
a military parade attended by foreign
officers and diplomats. But this year
foreign attendance was sparse, largely
replaced by an unprecedented joint
communique from 12 foreign defence
chiefs, expressing their utter dismay
at the turn of events in the Golden
Land.
The Chiefs of Defense of
Australia, Canada, Germany, Greece,
Italy, Japan, the Kingdom of Denmark,
the Kingdom of the Netherlands,
New Zealand, the Republic of
Korea, the United Kingdom, and the
United States of America released a
statement on the day condemning the
Myanmar Armed forces for its use of
violence against citizens across the
country.
“As Chiefs of Defense, we
condemn the use of lethal force against
unarmed people by the Myanmar
Armed Forces and associated
security services,” the statement
read. “A professional military follows
international standards for conduct
and is responsible for protecting – not
harming – the people it serves.”
They urged the Myanmar Armed
Forces to “cease violence and work
to restore respect and credibility with
the people of Myanmar that it has lost
through its actions.”
POINT OF NO RETURN?
The brutality exhibited by
the Myanmar security forces has
prompted a sea-shift in how the
people of Myanmar approach the
seemingly impossible task of bringing
democracy to their country and
turning the Military into a professional
force beholden to a civilian
government.
With Aung San Suu Kyi’s
government under arrest and
protesters on the streets, the conflict
appears to be teetering on the edge of
no return, the country on the brink of
turning into a failed state.
The United Nations special envoy
on Myanmar, Christine Schraner
Burgener, said the military had turned
against its own citizens.

“Women, youth and children have

been among those killed,” she said in
a statement

This is currently a war of attrition

in which unarmed or lightly armed
citizens face-off against armed police
and soldiers.

But tensions are rising and if this

continues the Ethnic Armed Groups
are not likely to remain idle.

Yawd Serk, chairman of the

Shan State Restoration Council, told
the media on the weekend: “If they
continue to shoot at protestors and
bully the people, I think that all ethnic A one-year-old child is attended to by its parents after being hit with a
groups would not just stand by and do rubber bullet. Photo: Facebook
nothing.”

Tensions are rising in the ethnic

states, not helped by Military jet
fighters bombing villages on Armed
Forces Day, and clashes erupting in
Karen and Kachin states.

The Karen National Union (KNU)

in eastern Myanmar's Karen state said
they had been targeted in airstrikes
late Saturday, hours after the ethnic
armed group seized a military base.

Hsa Moo, an ethnic Karen and

human rights activist, said three
people were killed and at least eight
injured in the strikes.

It was the first air assault in 20

years in the state and targeted the
Fifth Brigade of the KNU - one of the
country's largest armed groups -
which says it represents the ethnic
Karen people.

Further airstrikes on Sunday

sent 2,000 people from two villages
in Karen state darting through the
jungle across the border into Thailand
seeking safety, Hsa Moo said.

With unarmed civilians including

children facing the full might of
Myanmar’s military machine,
Commander in Chief Min Aung
Hlaing’s call to “protect democracy” is
being shown for what it is - an outright
sham.

As people hold funerals for their

family members, Myanmar stands
on the brink of a catastrophe, edging
towards an all-out civil war.

Additional reporting from

AFP, DVB
Six-year-old Khin Myo Chit was shot dead by the Myanmar security
forces. Photo: Facebook

April 1, 2021 13
UNICEF seeks protections
as Myanmar children die on the streets
T
he physical and mental
dangers for children in
Myanmar was highlighted by
the recent killing by security
forces of a seven-year-old girl, shot at
point blank range.
In the following interview, Marc
Rubin, Regional Adviser Emergencies,
UNICEF Bangkok, explains the
challenges for UNICEF and its partner
organizations in trying to protect
children during the current crisis in
Myanmar.
Mr Rubin is based in Bangkok
in the regional office for UNICEF for
Asia and Pacific. UNICEF has been
present in Myanmar and Burma for
over 70 years. UNICEF’s main purpose
when it comes to Myanmar is to help
the country sustain and adhere to
the Convention on the Rights of the
Child, signed in 1989, which is the
international instrument protecting
children’s rights worldwide.
I wonder if you could tell us
about the number of children
that have been killed or wounded
Marc Rubin, Regional Adviser Emergencies, UNICEF Bangkok.
14
or detained by security forces in
Myanmar?
So, as of 23 March, we know that
at least 23 children have reportedly
been killed, while at least 11 more
have been severely wounded. The 23
children I mentioned were 20 boys
and three girls, aged between seven
and 17. You may of course have heard
of this little girl of seven years old that
yesterday was killed in her own home
while sitting on her father’s lap, in
what appears to have been a targeted
killing. This is very disturbing and
outrageous and in total violation of
international law.
What should security forces
do to uphold the best interests of
children in Myanmar, especially in
this current crisis?
Well, it is very clear that they have
an obligation on the convention of
the rights of the child and Myanmar
is a signatory of this law. So, the
security force should immediately
refrain from violence and ask to
retain the utmost restraint to keep
April 1, 2021
children out of harm’s way. They
should stop immediately the use of
live ammunition. They should also
vacate all occupied premises including
schools and hospitals and ensure that
public institutions are not used by
military and security personnel.
What can UNICEF do now and
what work is UNICEF doing now to
protect children in Myanmar?
There are two aspects. The first
one obviously is the immediate ones
which is the protection of children
that are targeted and affected by the
repression by the security forces. And
the other one is the broader issue is
the lack of access to services. On the
first one, UNICEF and our partners,
non-governmental organizations, civil
society organizations, are supporting
a nationwide justice helpline, and we
are now currently working to expand
it. And this helpline aims to make sure
children have access to quality legal
advice. And we are also supporting
a nationwide mental health and
social support helpline to ensure that
children are able to access counselling
and mental health support in several
local languages.
Just to mention also that we are
also working with an NGO to educate
children on the prevention and the
danger of landmines and assist those
injured by landmines.
If I can also add that you
know the crisis has increasingly
compounding impact and threaten
the lives of millions at risk, access to
immunization, clean drinking water,
education, for instance, are severely
disrupted and the priority its really
to adapt the way we work to ensure
there is continuity of access to critical
services. Right now, a million children
are do not access immunization
services. This huge impact on
COVID-19 but also you could imagine
they could also have an outbreak of
major diseases such as measles.
Could you explain why military
occupation of schools and hospitals
is a violation of international law?
What’s the breach of law there?
International law in general and
international humanitarian law is
very clear about that. In conflict when
a military or armed group occupies
schools and hospitals, for instance,
the buildings become targets for
attack and children are more likely
to be caught in the crossfire. And
you know occupation of schools and
hospitals also increases the risk of
grave violations against children,
including sexual abuse, and interferes
with their education and health care.
So the use of educational and health
institutions by military forces and
other armed groups also damages
facilities, disrupts students’ education
and blur the lines between civilian
and military installation. It is in direct
violation of the Geneva Convention or
international humanitarian law and
these are to immediately cease.
What is happening for children
in the border areas where there has
been an increase in armed conflict
since the beginning of the year,
and we have also seen increasing
population displacement?
Right. As we speak, there are
children and their families in the
border states, such as Kachin, Shan,
Kayin, and there has been intensified
violence due to security forces
crackdown on peaceful protests. So
we also noted clashes and tension
between the Tatmadaw and ethnic
armed organizations in those
states and resulting so far at least
The security force should
immediately refrain from violence
and ask to retain the utmost
restraint to keep children out of
harm’s way.
1,500 people fleeing their homes
and communities and we fear that
this number might increase as we
move ahead. So, I think what is very
important is people being displaced,
those people where access has been
granted so that humanitarian aid
organizations can access and provide
direct support to those people.
UNICEF is also alarmed by
unconfirmed reports of a growing
number of youth and children seeking
to join ethnic armed groups for their
protection. So in a context where
those in charge of the security of the
people of Myanmar are committing
severe human rights violations
against this very same population
they are meant to protect, and where
the tension between the Tatmadaw
and the ethnic armed organizations
is on the rise, I think there are risks of
seeing children being recruited and
used by armed forces, both by the
Tatmadaw or armed groups is getting
very high.
So, UNICEF would like to be
call that recruitment or use of
children – forced or voluntary – is a
grave violation of their rights under
international law. This is absolutely
forbidden and a grave violation.
Could you please explain to
us what could be done to better
support access to COVID-19
vaccinations for Myanmar’s
children in the crisis?
Yes, the current crisis is really
having… it is a triple burden in a way, it
is really a crisis of violence and human
rights as we speak. It is a crisis on a
broader access to life support services
but also it is against the campaign
on COVID-19, which Myanmar had
made significant progress through the
April 1, 2021
course of 2020 thanks to the frontline
health workers, volunteers who put
their lives on the line to save people
while children will be some of the
last people to be vaccinated against
COVID per se.
UNICEF is working with partners
in the WHO others to support the
roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine to
protect families and communities. But
you know with many of the health care
workers now being arrested, exposed
to physical violence or threatened by
detention, the rollout of vaccines at
large, and COVID-19 as well, is on a
hold. And as I mentioned before, this
is putting the health and well-being of
children at serious risk, and threatens
the response to COVID-19, also
threaten the risks of other outbreaks.
So, at this stage we are assessing
how best to continue our support to
these critical activities, with different
alternate modalities.
Lastly, does UNICEF have a
message for the leaders of the
Tatmadaw at this point?
We have been working with all
parties for years now to educate and
explain on the Convention of the
Rights of the Child is and it is very
clear under international law what
these obligations are at the moment.
So, first of all, during the current
repression of the movement, it’s to
make sure the children’s safety and
security is ensured at all times. That
is really the first immediate obligation
and the message.
And the other thing is to make
sure that schools and hospitals are
vacated and secured so that children
and their families are allowed direct
access to primary health care and
education.
15
World not tough
enough on Myanmar crisis: UN expert
T
he world's response to the
Myanmar crisis has been too
sluggish and far from tough
enough to prevent further
deterioration, the UN expert on rights
in the country said last week.
Tom Andrews, the United Nations
special rapporteur on human rights
in Myanmar, called for an emergency
summit to sharpen the response and
said it should include the southeast
Asian country's neighbours and global
powers.
Myanmar's military has
unleashed a deadly wave of violence
as it struggles to quell nationwide
protests against the February 1
ousting of the civilian government and
arrest of leaders including Aung San
Suu Kyi.
"Conditions in Myanmar are
deteriorating but they will likely get
Tom Andrews, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar
16
much worse without an immediate,
robust, international response
in support of those under siege,"
Andrews said in a statement.
"The limited sanctions imposed
by member states do not cut the
junta's access to revenue that help
sustain its illegal activities, and the
slow pace of diplomacy is out of step
with the scale of the crisis.
"The incremental approach
to sanctions has left the most
lucrative business assets of the junta
unscathed. It needs to be replaced
by robust action that includes a
diplomatic offensive designed to meet
the moment."
Andrews, who does not speak
for the UN but is mandated to
report his findings to the global
body, called for the emergency
summit to involve among others
April 1, 2021
the Committee for Representing
Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) - a group
of ousted parliamentarians working
underground against the junta.
Without a focused diplomatic
solution, he said he feared the
situation would further deteriorate
with more murders, enforced
disappearances and torture.
A combination of domestic
peaceful resistance, sustained
pressure and international diplomatic
momentum would save lives and have
a far greater chance of success than
taking up arms, the American said.
"I fear that the international
community has only a short time
remaining to act," Andrews said.
AFP
Myanmar’s CDM movement
nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize
Kristian Stokke, Professor of Human Geography at the University of Oslo.
A
group of six professors
in social science at the
University of Oslo in Norway
has nominated the Civil
Disobedience Movement (CDM) of
Myanmar for the Nobel Peace Prize in
2022.
Mizzima spoke with the
spokesperson for the professors,
Kristian Stokke, Professor of Human
Geography at the University of Oslo.
Stokke said he had been
researching questions of popular
movements and democratization for
25 to 30 years.
“For the last 10 years I've been
following politics in Myanmar and the
reason we are talking now is probably
because I have nominated the Civil
Disobedience Movement for the
Nobel Peace Prize.
“The Nobel Peace Prize is
generally recognized as a very visible,
foremost peace prize internationally.
“It is first and foremost a
recognition for individuals or
organizations that have made a major
contribution towards peace in one
situation or another.
“The nomination is in recognition
of the civil disobedience movement
and their non-violent struggle for
democracy in Myanmar.
“And one reason that we
nominated is that it’s an expression of
support for the movement.
“So far, I think that the
international community has
made some important statements
condemning the coup and the
military's brutal use of violence.
“There have been fewer
statements of support or recognition
for the popular movement for
democracy and peace, or against the
coup essentially. So the nomination
can also be seen as an international
statement of support for the
movement.
“The Peace Prize has often been
given to individuals, sometimes to
organisation but then very formal
organisations. It’s not so common to
give the prize to a social movement,
but that's in our case a very deliberate
choice to nominate the moment
rather than to nominate a political
leader or some formal organization.
“We do think that the question
of the political future in Myanmar is
very much dependent on the broad
April 1, 2021
popular mobilization against the coup
and for a return, but not just a return-
to formal democracy, but to build a
better, more real democracy. And a
democracy that can also create true
national unity and peace.
“So it is in the recognition that real
democracy has something that goes
beyond formal democracy, that has
to rely on struggles, on movements,
and CDM is a foremost example of
that. And it is also important in other
settings, not just in Myanmar. They are
also a foremost example of a popular
movement for democracy in a time
when democracy is under pressure -
pressure globally - from authoritarian
actors and agendas.
“They should win the prize for
their mass mobilization, the use
of nonviolence for democracy and
peace, for their contribution to
building a broad movement across
traditional divides for national unity,
for real federal democracy, because it
is an inspiration. An example of mass
mobilization for democracy at the
largest scale internationally.
“They should win it because
they deserve it but they should also
win it because it will have political
implications and send important
signals.”
17
Myanmar's rebel areas
brace for thousands fleeing unrest
U
p to 7,000 refugees are
expected to flee post-coup
unrest in Myanmar's cities
by the end of April, an ethnic
rebel group said last week, claiming
hundreds were already in militia-
controlled areas.
Myanmar has been in turmoil
since the military ousted civilian
leader Aung San Suu Kyi from power
in a February 1 coup, triggering a mass
uprising that has seen security forces
mount deadly crackdowns against
protesters.
The anti-coup movement has
garnered broad support across the
country, including among some
of the country's armed insurgent
groups which have for decades been
fighting Myanmar's military for more
autonomy.
An estimated one-third of
Myanmar's territory -- mostly in its
border regions -- is controlled by a
myriad of rebel groups, who have
their own militias.
Since the coup, the Karen
National Union (KNU) - one of the
Karen villagers flee to the Thai border following the bombing of their villages by the Myanmar Air Force. Photo:
Facebook
18
largest armed groups in the country
- has seen hundreds of people flee
to its territory in southeastern Karen
state near the Thai border, an official
with the group said.
"We think it could increase to
between 6,000 and 7,000 people by
the end of April," the KNU's general
secretary Saw Tah Doh Moo told AFP.
He added that so far people
fleeing anti-coup unrest had been
activists, protesters and MPs with Suu
Kyi's National League for Democracy
party.
"Those who are now sheltering
are more at the leaders' level, but if
they (the military) keep pressing... it
could be the broader population," he
said.
The KNU has already seen fresh
clashes with the military in its territory
since the coup.
Besides people fleeing unrest in
the cities, KNU territory currently has
5,000 Karen people displaced from
local fighting that has been ongoing
since December.
April 1, 2021
"It's our position, from our
humanitarian point of view, that we
have to give some shelter to these
people who are in our area," he said.
Authorities in neighbouring
Thailand's Tak province say they are
preparing for a potential influx of
refugees from Myanmar, and can
support between 30,000 and 50,000
people.
About 90,000 refugees from
Myanmar have lived in limbo on
the Thai side of the border for many
years after fleeing decades of civil
war between the military and ethnic
armed groups.
But Saw Tah Doh Moo said he
thinks a further exodus to Thailand is
unlikely.
"It's different because the people
are more committed to (fighting) the
coup," he said.
AFP
April 1, 2021 19
 ME DI A
IPI welcomes the release of Myanmar
AP journalist, urges release of others
T
he International Press Institute
(IPI), a global network of
editors, media executives and
leading journalists for press
freedom, today welcomed the release
of Associated Press journalist Thein
Zaw by a Myanmar court, according to
a press release.
Thein Zaw, who was arrested on
February 27 in Yangon and charged
with breaching public order was
released today following his second
court appearance. The judge in the
case also dismissed the charges
against Zaw, who faced up to three
years in prison.
“IPI welcomes the release of
Thein Zaw, who was detained for
doing his job as a journalist and
should never have been behind
AP journalist Thein Zaw is released from prison. Photo: EPA
20
bars in the first place”, IPI Deputy
Director Scott Griffen said. “Myanmar
must now immediately release all
other journalists it is holding. The
military junta must stop all forms
of harassment and intimidation of
media covering demonstrations
against the coup and end restrictions
on publication and broadcasting
by media outlets in the country.
The international community must
continue to pressure the authorities in
Myanmar to uphold press freedom.”
Between February 1 and March
15, at least 39 journalists were
detained in Myanmar, according to
Frontier Myanmar.
BBC journalist Aung Thura and
former Mizzima reporter Than Htike
Aung, were taken away by plainclothes
April 1, 2021
men on March 19. While Aung Thura
was released yesterday without being
charged, Than Htike Aung remains in
detention. According to media reports,
the BBC reporter was interrogated
and not allowed to sleep for three
nights. The interrogators asked the
journalists about his contacts with
protest leaders and pro-democracy
groups. He was released after signing
a document.
The authorities have increasingly
sought to crack down on journalistic
coverage of the protests against
the military coup. The military has
cancelled the licences of at least
five news organizations, including
Mizzima, which however continue
to disseminate news through social
media platforms.

Myanmar beauty queen
speaks out against military takeover
M
iss Grand International
contestant Han Lay made
a plea last week to end the
violence in her homeland.
The Myanmar military has
unleashed deadly violence as it
struggles to quell nationwide protests
against the February 1 ouster and
arrest of civilian leader Aung San Suu
Kyi.
Han Lay, in Bangkok competing
for the Miss Grand crown against
63 other contestants, hit out at the
crackdown, in which more than 280
people have been killed.
"I want to say from here to the
world: please support the Myanmar
people," she told Thailand's Khaosod
English news outlet.
Miss Grand International contestant Han Lay. Photo: EPA
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
"So many people die in Myanmar
by the guns of the military... Please
save us."
The psychology student said
some of her peers had been detained
since the coup.
"Students from the University
of Yangon, my university, were also
detained," she said on her Instagram
page.
"In a democracy, it is important
that we can speak. Our voices must be
heard. But now we have no freedom
in Myanmar. It is a human rights
violation. Release our students."
During the pageant's national
costume contest on Wednesday,
Han Lay's golden outfit channelled
"Goddess of Peace," according to her
April 1, 2021
Instagram account.
"Our Myanmar people are walking
on the streets to fight for democracy.
As a representative of Myanmar I
will walk on the stage of Miss Grand
International with the (message) stop
the war and violence," she wrote on
her Facebook page.
Her social media posts are a
mix of graphic photos and footage
from the unrest back home, protest
messages and photos of herself
wearing ballgowns.
Miss Grand USA won the contest
on Saturday in Bangkok.
AFP
21
Thailand faces meth
trafficking surge after Myanmar coup
A
village watchman trains his
binoculars on a suspicious
fishing boat - the first line of
defence as Thailand braces
for a fresh methamphetamine influx
after the coup in neighbouring
Myanmar.
The kingdom's narcotics bureau
has already seized more than 80
million "yaba" pills just in the past
six months, a record haul partly
blamed on a supply glut caused by the
coronavirus pandemic.
But now the United Nations
warns of an even bigger deluge as
Myanmar's legal economy tanks,
following weeks of nationwide unrest
and strike action following the military
takeover.
"If past actions are an indicator
of what's coming, then we're likely to
see another increase in synthetic drug
production," said Jeremy Douglas of
the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
He told AFP that organised crime
groups and allied militias across
the border were likely working to
strengthen their positions while
Myanmar was in turmoil.
"The best way to make big money
fast is the drug trade, and the pieces
are in place to scale up," Douglas said.
Synthetic drug production is
already the number one revenue
source for several insurgent groups
and militias in lawless pockets of
Myanmar close to the borders of
Thailand and Laos.
The recent supply glut has kept
the street value of a meth pill in
Bangkok at rock bottom prices --
50 baht ($1.66) apiece.
22
The frontier traversing the three Their local knowledge is helping
countries makes up the "Golden spot drug-runners trying to blend
Triangle" that has for decades been in with ordinary fishermen on the
the hub of Southeast Asia's lucrative Mekong.
drug trade.
"We always spot the boats with
The recent supply glut has kept the fake fishermen," said Rachin
the street value of a meth pill in Sinpho, 58, who heads up a volunteer
Bangkok at rock bottom prices -- 50 group at a village in Nong Khai
baht ($1.66) apiece. province.
Methamphetamine's more
potent crystallised form normally gets
sent on to wealthier overseas markets
such as Australia and Japan, although
pandemic transport bottlenecks have
disrupted that trade.
Heavier patrols along the
Myanmar border have not deterred
traffickers, with Thai authorities
estimating that around three-quarters
of illegal drugs entering their territory
are now routed through Laos.
The battle against the meth trade
between the two countries, divided
by the Mekong River, is hampered by
a lack of manpower and equipment
such as night-vision gear, motion
sensors and motorbikes.
The provincial naval unit in charge
of monitoring the border has also
been forced to increase land patrols
because drought and Chinese-funded
dams upstream have caused water
levels to drop.
Authorities have in recent
months begun using dedicated village
volunteer groups living along the
river to provide around-the-clock
surveillance of the border.
April 1, 2021
 "They won't come to the
riverbank. If there are many fishermen
out... they won't go close to them and
will stay away."
'I'm afraid'
Dragonflies buzz overhead as
Rachin points out a shed on the
Laos side of the Mekong river that is
reported to be storing a tonne of yaba
tablets.
He says his team is busiest in the
first hours before dark and the last
before dawn. Drug traffickers time
their movements with changeovers in
the local police force's shifts.
Methamphetamines seized in Thailand. Photo: EPA
The volunteers do not make
arrests because they are unarmed
and some drug smugglers have guns.
But they do tip off police to the
movements of traffickers, as was the
case during the last big arrest at a
neighbouring village.
"The drug-runners carried the
packages from their boats and hid the
drugs in the grass and trees on the
riverbank," Rachin said.
"They sent a car to the spot to
collect the drugs. Just as the car was
leaving, the police came and arrested
them and found five million yaba
tablets."
April 1, 2021
Duangphaisri Ninket, who runs
an accommodation business in the
village, said she feels safer knowing
Rachin's team are keeping watch.
But the 54-year-old still worries
about meth taking hold in her
community.
"I'm afraid if they start selling
drugs in my village it will affect the
youth. They will become addicts," she
told AFP.
AFP
23
Bangladesh defends use
of fences after Rohingya camp blaze
Sam Jahan
B
angladesh last week defended
the use of barbed-wire fences
around vast camps holding
almost a million Rohingya
refugees, after a major fire left at least
15 people dead and nearly 50,000
homeless.
The fire, which gutted about
10,000 refugee shanties, was the
Rohingya refugees attempt to salvage what they can from the debris. Photo: EPA
24
deadliest since more than 740,000 12-hour blaze in the maze of bamboo-
Rohingya fled a military crackdown and-tarp huts.
in Myanmar in 2017 that UN
investigators concluded was executed "Rescue efforts proved to
with "genocidal intent". be challenging as a result of the
presence of perimeter fencing," a joint
The UN, aid groups and Rohingya statement from the United Nations,
leaders said the fences erected by local and international aid agencies
the military hampered rescue work said.
and caused injuries during Monday's
April 1, 2021
 "In some instances, refugees
themselves cut through the fence to
escape the fire," it said.
Bangladesh refugee
commissioner Shah Rezwan Hayat
defended the fences, which were built
in recent months amid a worsening
law and order situation in the vast
settlements.
"I don't believe these fences have
hampered rescue efforts. There were
enough roads in the camps and the
hundreds of our officials, policemen
and volunteers were there to rescue
them," he told AFP.
He said the fences were not built
inside the camps to act as barriers
between blocks of shanties.
Bangladesh refugee commissioner
Shah Rezwan Hayat defended the
fences, which were built in recent
months amid a worsening law
and order situation in the vast
settlements.
"The barbed-wire fences were
erected on the outer boundary of
the camps to ensure the safety and
security of the Rohingya people. If
the fencing acted as a barrier, how
could dozens of firefighting vehicles,
police vans enter the camps within 20
minutes after the fire?" he said.
'Are we animals?'
Rohingya refugees had vented
their anger to reporters and on social
media, saying some were injured
as they were trying to flee the fire
through the fences.
"There would have been very few
casualties had there been no barbed-
wire fences surrounding the camps,"
refugee Mohammad Yunus told AFP
at one of the settlements.
The 27-year-old's shanty -- and
all his furniture within it -- were
destroyed in the fire.
"Small children could not cross
the barbed-wire fences during the
fire. And many were injured as they
tried to cross it," he added.
Fatema Khatun, another refugee,
said people ran for their lives as the
blaze started but struggled to find
exits in the fencing.
"You need fencing for animals.
Are we animals?" added Ahmed, 40,
April 1, 2021
who did not give his first name, as he
scoured the scorched grounds for his
home.
Commissioner Hayat also rejected
the UN's claim that about 400 people
were still missing after the fire, saying
most refugees have taken shelter with
relatives in neighbouring camps, in
schools and refugee transit centres.
"We are on the ground. So far we
don't think anybody is missing," he
said, adding the authorities and the
UN agencies were now building tents
and temporary shelters and most
refugees have started returning.
A police spokesman said the local
police station did not receive any
reports of missing people from the
Rohingya.
He said officers were questioning
eight people over the fire.
Hayat said preliminary findings
suggested the fire originated from
a stove in a shelter and then quickly
spread due to strong wind and
cooking gas cylinders.
An investigation was ongoing, he
said.
AFP
25
 COVID-19 UPDATE
Half billion jabs given despite
the growing controversy over the ‘experimental’
vaccines
M
ore than 500 million doses
of vaccines have been
given around the world
as of Friday, according to
media reports.
Despite the growing controversy
amongst doctors and immunologists
that questions both the efficacy and
potential dangers posed by what
are referred to “emergency” and
“experimental” vaccines, the pace of
rollout is picking up.
In a sign of how the pace is picking
up, it took two months for the first
100 million people to get a shot, but
just eight days for the last 100 million
people.
By last Friday, more than 508.3
million doses had been administered
in at least 164 countries worldwide.
Attempts to censor
More and more questions are
being raised by health professionals
about the COVID-19 vaccines but
media organizations and social media
have been censoring voices that
question what is promoted as the
accepted narrative.

Opposition to the untested and experimental COVID-19 vaccines is growing. Protesters at a demonstration in
Sydney, Australia. Photo: EPA

26 April 1, 2021
 Norway said on Friday it would
extend its suspension of AstraZeneca's
Covid-19 vaccine until April 15 to allow
more time to investigate a potential
link to severe blood clotting.

The EU's drugs regulator said

last week the vaccine was "safe and
effective" and not linked to a higher
risk of blood clots, but could not rule
out definitively a link to a rare clotting

Despite the growing controversy amongst

doctors and immunologists that questions

both the efficacy and potential dangers posed

by what are referred to “emergency” and

“experimental” vaccines, the pace of rollout is

picking up.

disorder. Russia's Sputnik V and China's

The World Health Organization
has also urged countries to continue
using the vaccine, arguing the benefits
outweigh any potential risks.
The vaccine developed by
AstraZeneca and Oxford University
has been administered in rich
countries as well as poorer ones,
notably thanks to Covax of which
it is the main supplier. It is also
administered in India.
The vaccines produced by
US-German Pfizer/BioNTech and
the American Moderna are more
expensive and harder to store. They
are mainly used in rich countries.
Sinopharm and Sinovac jabs have
been administered mostly in their
home markets as well as emerging
and developing countries.
The American Johnson & Johnson
vaccine, the first to require just one
dose, has so far only been rolled out in
the US and South Africa though it has
been approved in Canada and the EU.
Growing numbers of people
having adverse effects, including
dying, have raised concerns amongst
some health professionals and
interested parties.
Additional reporting by AFP

April 1, 2021 27
India slows vital
vaccine exports as cases soar

I
ndia, the "pharmacy of the world", development is a blow to vital So far, India has sent more than 60
has put the brakes on exporting vaccination programmes in poorer million doses to 76 countries, mostly
Covid-19 vaccines as it battles a new countries under the Covax global AstraZeneca shots manufactured
wave of infections at home and a inoculation initiative led by the World by the Serum Institute of India (SII),
faltering inoculation drive. Health Organization and the Gavi the world's largest vaccine maker by
alliance. volume.
As a major supplier, the

A woman receives the COVID-19 vaccine in Bhopal, India. Photo: EPA

28 April 1, 2021
 On Thursday, Gavi said vaccine
deliveries planned for the rest of
March and April "will face delays"
because of "increased demand of
Covid-19 vaccines in India".
An Indian government source
said late Thursday it had "not imposed
any ban on exports of vaccines unlike
many other countries".
"We remain committed to help
the world with vaccines, including
through Covax... Given our current
manufacturing capacity and
requirements of national vaccination
programmes, there may be a need to
calibrate the supply schedules from
time to time."
Serum were not immediately
available for further comment. An
industry source said it was "not clear
how long it will take to resolve the
delays".
"Covax is in talks with the
government of India with a view to
ensuring deliveries as quickly as
possible," the Gavi spokesperson said.
Former national health secretary
Sujatha Rao said the government was
"caught in a bind as infections are
rising and it simply cannot afford a
lockdown policy".
"It has to fall back on rapidly
scaling up its vaccination coverage to
stem transmission. So I think it's tough
to expect too much accommodation
from India," Rao told AFP.
'Grotesque'
The WHO on Monday branded
the growing gap in immunisation
rates between rich and poor countries
in the pandemic "grotesque".
Worldwide more than 488 million
doses have been administered,
according to an AFP count, 55 percent
to high-income countries accounting
for 16 percent of the global
population.
Just 0.1 percent have been given
in the 29 lowest-income nations,
home to nine percent of the world's
people.
The Covax scheme aims to
distribute enough doses to vaccinate
up to 27 percent of their population
by the end of the year.
It was supposed to deliver
some 238 million doses by the end
of May, including 237 million doses
of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine
manufactured in India and South
Korea.
So far it has shipped more than
31 million doses.
UNICEF said Thursday it was
"expecting an additional 40 million
doses to be available in March, and up
to 50 million doses in April".
Some rich countries are also
relying on Serum. Last week, the
British government blamed delays
in its vaccination rollout on a supply
shortfall from the firm.
Rising infections
But India, home to 1.3 billion
people, is experiencing a new wave of
April 1, 2021
cases after infections slowed sharply
after September, dashing hopes the
pandemic might be over.
India last shipped out shots
on March 18, according to foreign
ministry data.
Health ministry data on Thursday
showed almost 54,000 new infections
over the previous 24 hours, the most
since October, taking total cases
towards 12 million.
More than 700 infections of the
UK variant have been detected but the
Indian government believes that this
and other mutations are not behind
the rise.
India's strict lockdown imposed
last March was steadily eased during
2020, with most activity, including
weddings, religious festivals and some
cricket matches, back to normal.
Now curbs are returning,
particularly in the hard-hit western
state of Maharashtra where officials
have launched random virus checks
in crowded areas in the local capital
Mumbai -- with those tested having to
pay.
"Just to enter a mall, you have
to give 250 rupees ($3.50) over here,
(and) that too with a queue of one
hour," said irate Mumbai resident
Mohit Jain as he lined up to enter a
shopping mall.
"It will cause a lot of inconvenience
for the malls as well as for the
customers also," he told AFP.
Meanwhile, India this week
decided to allow all over-45s to be
inoculated as it attempts to vaccinate
300 million people by August.
So far it had administered 53
million shots -- fewer than it has
exported. Each person requires two
shots.
AFP
29
Bangladesh at 50:
Booming economy, shrinking rights
Sam Jahan
B
angladesh turned 50 last
week as an economic success
story but also an increasingly
repressive de facto one-party
state where a cartoon or Facebook
post can land you in jail, or worse.
A.B.M. Shamsuddin has been a
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Photo: EPA
30
major beneficiary of the boom. He
launched his sweater factory in 1998
with 110 machines and 250 workers.
Now Hannan Group's five factories
supply two dozen European brands
and employ more than 10,000 people.
"My annual turnover is $100
April 1, 2021
million," Shamsuddin, 66, told AFP
as his workers stitched clothes for
German high-street outlet Esprit. "I
became a hero from zero."
Praising the government for
building decent infrastructure such as
roads, ports and energy facilities, he
predicts "a new era of prosperity" for
the country of 168 million people.
One of his employees is Ruma,
part of a three-million-strong army
of garment workers who have turned
Bangladesh into the world's second-
largest clothing exporter behind
China.
When Ruma's mother died from
diarrhoea in the 1980s, she was sent
to live with relatives where an uncle
tore up her books because "education
isn't for girls".
She now earns $420 in some
months. During the Muslim festival of
Eid she and her husband take home
more than $1,000 and are able to
spend $120 a month educating their
two children.
"I am determined that my children
will not be deprived of education," she
told AFP in her two-room concrete
home in the dusty industrial town of
Gazipur.
'Basket case'
When Bangladesh won
independence from Pakistan in 1971
after a brutal war that killed three
million people, it was written off as
a "basket case" by then US national
security advisor Henry Kissinger.
More than 80 percent of people
lived below the poverty line. Famines
and military coups were frequent
and most industry including the huge
jute sector was owned by Pakistani
businesspeople.
Now, according to Norwegian
researcher Eirik G. Jansen, who has
closely studied Bangladesh over
the last four decades, a little over 10
percent of people live in extreme
poverty.
Production of rice, the main
staple, has more than trebled, while
life expectancy has risen to 73 from 41
in 1971, according to his latest book
"Seeing the End of Poverty: Bhaimara
Revisited".
For the last decade the economy
has grown more than seven percent
annually and per capita GDP has more
than quadrupled since 2000.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's
government aims to make Bangladesh
a "developed country" by 2041.
At what price?
But campaigners say democracy
is being eroded under Hasina,
premier since 2009 and the daughter
of Bangladesh's murdered "Father of
the Nation" Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Both are the subject of what critics
call a growing cult of personality, with
murals of their faces springing up
around the country.
The main opposition Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP) is in tatters,
with its chief, Hasina's arch-rival
Khaleda Zia, in jail for corruption and
ailing.
The party says at least 3.5 million
of its activists and supporters have
been charged since 2012 under
trumped-up charges, with many of
April 1, 2021
them now behind bars.
Hundreds of others are missing
after being picked up by security
forces, the BNP says.
Authorities are clamping down
on criticism, particularly online, with
"digital security" legislation that rights
groups say is used to arrest hundreds
of journalists, activists and others.
One was writer Mushtaq Ahmed
after he published an article and
shared Facebook posts critical of
Hasina's handling of the coronavirus
pandemic.
Ahmed, 53, collapsed in a high-
security prison and died in February,
sparking days of protests and clashes
with security forces.
Arrested with him and now on
bail after 10 months behind bars is
cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore, 45.
He says he was tortured - allegations
the authorities have denied.
He believes his crime was a
cartoon mocking a businessman with
close ties to the government. On the
advice of his lawyer and rights activists
he is now at a secret location.
"Am I a free man? I cannot draw.
I was tortured because I drew. I was
taken away from my child for 10
months because I drew," he said.
Fly the flag
Hazera Khatun certainly did not
join the celebrations for the South
Asian country's half-centenary that
began last Friday.
Seven years ago, she says, her son
Sajedul Islam Suman, an opposition
activist, was taken away by the
notorious Rapid Action Battalion, an
elite police unit blamed for hundreds
of extrajudicial killings.
"When night falls, I keep watching
at the front door. Perhaps they have
dropped my son on the porch," she
said, wiping away tears while looking
through old photos of her child.
"My son loved the country a lot.
He was very patriotic. He would fly
the national flag, he would listen to
patriotic songs," she added.
"I don't like hearing those songs.
This country is no longer ours."
AFP
31
Pandemic-hit US
confronted anew by mass shootings
Cyril Julien
T
wo US mass shootings in a
week have thrust back to the
fore the nation's plague of
gun violence, which worsened
during the pandemic and may have
been further fueled by spiking firearm
sales in 2020.
The two separate bursts of
killing, on opposite sides of the
country, claimed a total of 18 lives and
confronted the nation anew with a
painful problem that was obscured by
the virus's out-of-control spread.
In the midst of the pandemic that
has killed 545,000 in the United States
-- the world's worst absolute toll --
cities around the country recorded
worrying jumps in gun-related deaths
last year.
Firearms were used to kill 43,535
people in 2020, including 19,379
homicides -- a roughly 25 percent
jump in homicides over 2019,
according to figures from the Gun
Violence Archive.
The group counted 611 "mass
shootings," defined as four people
wounded or killed in one incident, in
2020 against 417 for the previous year
in the United States.
"Over the last year, communities
have suffered not only from Covid-19
and its financial aftermath, but also
from gun violence, a co-occurring
public health crisis that has surged
in all its forms," Robyn Thomas,
executive director of Giffords Law
Center to Prevent Gun Violence, told
the US Senate on Tuesday.
As the United States was battered
by the coronavirus, the nation
was also rocked by a historic mass
movement against police violence that
was sparked after African-American
George Floyd suffocated under a
white officer's knee.
32
In the midst of these twin crises,
sales of firearms soared last spring. A
Washington Post study said 23 million
guns were purchased in 2020, with 2.5
million sold in June alone.
"When Americans are concerned
about their personal security, they
buy firearms," a Brookings Institute
study said in July.
"Such concerns have been
rampant since March (2020), initially
due to the onset of the Covid-19
pandemic and then the social unrest
in June that followed George Floyd's
killing," it added.
Uphill political battle
A poll from the Pew Research
Center reported that some 41 percent
of adult Americans in 2017 said they
lived in a home where there was at
least one firearm.
In this context, gun control is a
divisive and politically explosive issue
in the United States, where the right
to possess firearms is among the
freedoms of speech and religion in the
nation's founding texts.
The question of more restrictions
generally emerges after the horrifically
recurrent mass killings, but national
lawmakers have not approved any
major reforms in years.
Following the March 16 rampage
that killed eight people at spas in the
Atlanta-area and the deadly shooting
of 10 people at a Boulder supermarket
on Monday, new calls were raised to
tighten US gun laws.
Background checks and waiting
periods to finalize purchases are some
of the controls advocates have urged.
The Atlanta gunman bought his
weapon the day of the killing and the
Boulder shooter purchased his just
April 1, 2021
days before the violence.
"It's worth asking if waiting
periods could've prevented this
tragedy in Georgia," Igor Volsky,
director of advocacy group Guns
Down America, wrote on Twitter the
day after the Atlanta shootings.
"Waiting periods for possession
of firearms prevent impulsive, volatile
acts of gun violence," he added.
In the wake of the latest violence,
President Joe Biden called for tighter
restrictions -- something that about
60 percent of Americans said they
supported in a 2019 Pew Research
poll.
Protesters take to the streets of Los Angeles, California, USA. Photo: EPA
Guns, however, are a highly
partisan issue in the United States
with Democrats frequently advocating
for stricter rules and Republicans
opposed.
Though Democrats hold the
White House and the House of
Representatives, they do not have
enough seats in the Senate to push
through gun legislation without
convincing some Republicans to join
them.
Republican Senator Ted Cruz
made clear the challenge when
he said Tuesday "after every mass
shooting... Democrats proposed
taking away guns from law abiding
April 1, 2021
citizens, because that's their political
objective."
Another Republican senator,
John Kennedy, made a comparison
to motorists responsible for fatal
drunk driving crashes in his argument
against new restrictions on lawful gun
ownership.
"I think what many folks on my
side of the aisle are saying is that the
answer is not to get rid of all sober
drivers," he said.
AFP
33
Warming drives 'fundamental'
changes to ocean, scientists warn
Kelly Macnamara
C
limate change has wrought
major changes to ocean
stability faster than previously
thought, according to a study
published last week, raising alarms
over its role as a global thermostat
and the marine life it supports.
Concern continues to grow over man-made global warming. Photo: EPA
34
The research published in the
journal Nature looked at 50 years of
data and followed the way in which
surface water "decouples" from the
deeper ocean.
Climate change has disrupted
April 1, 2021
ocean mixing, a process that helps
store away most of the world's excess
heat and a significant proportion of
CO2.
Water on the surface is warmer
-- and therefore less dense -- than
the water below, a contrast that is
intensified by climate change.
Global warming is also causing
massive amounts of fresh water to
flush into the seas from melting ice
sheets and glaciers, lowering the
salinity of the upper layer and further
reducing its density.
This increasing contrast between
the density of the ocean layers makes
mixing harder, so oxygen, heat and
carbon are all less able to penetrate to
the deep seas.
"Similar to a layer of water on
top of oil, the surface waters in
contact with the atmosphere mix less
efficiently with the underlying ocean,"
said lead author Jean-Baptiste Sallee
of Sorbonne University and France's
CNRS national scientific research
centre.
He said while scientists were
aware that this process was under
way, "we here show that this change
has occurred at a rate much quicker
than previously thought: more than
six times quicker."
The report used global
temperature and salinity observations
obtained between 1970 and 2018
-- including those from electronically
tracked marine mammals -- with a
focus on the summer months, which
have more data.
It said that the barrier layer
separating the ocean surface and the
deep layers had strengthened world-
wide -- measured by the contrast in
density -- at a much larger rate than
previously thought.
Researchers also found that,
contrary to their expectations, winds
strengthened by climate change
had also acted to deepen the ocean
surface layer by five to 10 metres per
decade over the last half century.
A significant number of marine
animals live in this surface layer,
with a food web that is reliant on
phytoplankton.
But as the winds increase, the
phytoplankton are churned deeper,
away from the light that helps them
grow, potentially disrupting the
broader food web.
These are "not small changes that
only some experts care about," Sallee
told AFP.
"They represent a fundamental
change in the underlying structure of
April 1, 2021
our oceans. Way more pronounced
than what we thought until now."
'Profound and troubling'
The oceans play a crucial role
in mitigating the effects of climate
change by absorbing around a quarter
of man-made CO2 and soaking up
more than 90 percent of the heat
generated by greenhouse gases,
according to the Intergovernmental
Panel for Climate Change (IPCC).
"But by stabilising, the ocean's
role to buffer climate change is made
harder as it is made more difficult
for the ocean to absorb these vast
amounts of heat and carbon," Sallee
said.
Scientists are increasingly
sounding the alarm over the potential
implications of warming on our
oceans.
In 2019, research published in
the US Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences calculated that
climate change would empty the
ocean of nearly a fifth of all living
creatures, measured by mass, by the
end of the century.
Climate scientist Michael Mann
warned in September that findings
from a study he co-authored in Nature
Climate Change -- which suggested
global ocean stratification had
increased by 5.3 percent from 1960 to
2018 -- had "profound and troubling"
implications.
These included potentially more
intense hurricanes driven by warming
ocean surfaces.
And in February, research in
Nature Geoscience found that the
northern extension of the Gulf stream
-- the vast, heat carrying ocean current
that influences weather in Europe and
sea levels in the US -- was its weakest
in over a thousand years, likely
because of climate change.
They said increased rainfall and
melting of the Greenland ice sheet
have increased the freshwater in the
upper ocean, disrupting the normal
cycle that carries warm, salty surface
water northwards from the equator
and sends low-salinity deep water
back southwards.
AFP
35
 CHINA FOCUS
Facebook says
cyber spies in China targeted Uyghurs
F
acebook says it disrupted efforts
by hackers in China to spy
on supporters of the Uyghur
minority living outside that
country.
A group of well-resourced
hackers in China targeted hundreds
of Uyghur activists, journalists, and
dissidents living abroad, trying to trick
them into clicking on website links
booby-trapped with malicious code,
according to the social network.
"This group used various cyber
espionage tactics to identify its
targets and infect their devices with
malware to enable surveillance,"
Facebook head of cyber espionage
investigations Mike Dvilyanski and
security policy chief Nathaniel
Gleicher said in a blog post.
"This activity had the hallmarks
of a well-resourced and persistent
operation, while obfuscating who’s
behind it."
Primary targets were Uyghurs
from Xinjiang in China now living in
Australia, Canada, Kazakhstan, Syria,
Turkey, the United States, and other
countries, according to Facebook.
The cyber spying campaign
involved luring targets to websites
off the social network where malware
could be slipped onto their mobile
phones, the executives said while
briefing journalists.
The hackers created fake
accounts at Facebook pretending
to be journalists, activists, or others
sympathetic to the Uyghur community
so like-minded people would engage
with the posts.
"The tactic was to build trust, and
then use that as a way to trick them
36
to click on these links to expose their
devices," Gleicher said in the briefing.
"Even for a small number of users,
less than 500 in this case around the
world, the impact can be very serious
-- you can imagine the surveillance."
Malware used could let cyber
spies take over people's mobile
phones, accessing information,
cameras and microphones, according
to security alerts about the malicious
code.
Since targets were lured away
from Facebook, the social network
could not tell how many of them
clicked on booby-trapped links
elsewhere, Gleicher said.
"We only see a piece of the
activity," he added.
To disrupt this operation,
Facebook blocked malicious domains
from being shared on the platform;
took down the group's accounts
and notified people it believed were
targeted, according to the executives.
Rights groups say at least one
million Uyghurs and other mostly
Muslim minorities have been
incarcerated in camps in Xinjiang,
where authorities are also accused
of forcibly sterilizing women and
imposing forced labor.
China has strongly denied the
allegations, saying training programs,
work schemes and better education
have helped stamp out extremism
in the northwest region and raise
income.
AFP
April 1, 2021
Demonstrators in Indonesia voice concerns over the treatment of the Uyghur minority in China. Photo: EPA

April 1, 2021 37
UK denounces China sanctions
over Xinjiang as Western rift widens
Jitendra Joshi and Beiyi Seow
B
ritain accused China of "gross
human rights violations"
against the Muslim Uyghur
minority Friday after Beijing
slapped sanctions on UK lawmakers
and lobby groups, widening a rift with
Western powers over alleged abuses
in Xinjiang.
China has received serious criticism over its clampdown on the Uyghur minority. Photo: Facebook
38
At least one million Uyghurs and
people from other mostly Muslim
groups have been held in camps in
northwestern Xinjiang, according to
rights groups, who accuse authorities
of forcibly sterilising women and
imposing forced labour.
The European Union, Britain,
April 1, 2021
Canada and the United States
sanctioned several members of
Xinjiang's political and economic
hierarchy this week in coordinated
action over the allegations, which the
US has said amounts to genocide.
Beijing, which insists Xinjiang is
an "internal affair", has retaliated with
sanctions on individuals from the EU
and Britain who have taken up the
Uyghur cause and also spoken out
on the crackdown against democracy
campaigners in Hong Kong.
While also fuelling a social
media war on Western brands, China
announced sanctions against nine
British individuals and four entities,
saying they had "maliciously spread
lies and disinformation" over the
treatment of Uyghurs.
The individual sanctions were
confined to critical legislators rather
than government ministers, but Prime
Minister Boris Johnson said Britain
stood squarely behind them.
"The MPs and other British
citizens sanctioned by China today are
performing a vital role shining a light
on the gross human rights violations
being perpetrated against Uyghur
Muslims," he tweeted.
"Freedom to speak out in
opposition to abuse is fundamental
and I stand firmly with them," he said,
days after his government defended
the need for critical engagement with
China on climate change and trade in
a new global strategy paper.
'Profoundly sinister'
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab
said China's envoy to London would
be summoned to hear "that we will
not be silenced in speaking out about
these human rights abuses".
Beijing also sanctioned the China
Research Group of MPs, the Uyghur
Tribunal, and Essex Court Chambers,
a partnership of lawyers who wrote
a legal opinion that there is a case
for genocide against the Chinese
government concerning the Turkic
ethnic group.
All of the sanctioned parties will
be barred from mainland China, Hong
Kong and Macau, while any assets
in the country will be frozen, and
Chinese citizens and institutions will
be banned from dealings with them.
The China Research Group -- led
by sanctioned MPs Tom Tugendhat
and Neil O'Brien -- accused Beijing of
a "profoundly sinister" approach to its
critics.
"Yet more Western businesses
are discovering that China is becoming
a dangerous place to do business," a
statement said, citing "an increasingly
nationalistic and unpredictable
Communist party".
The Uyghur Tribunal, a
panel of independent UK-based
lawyers, vowed to press on with its
investigation into whether China is
guilty of crimes against humanity in
Xinjiang.
China flatly denies any abuses
in the region, describing detention
centres as work camps intended to
boost incomes and deter extremism
in a region made restive by central
control.
Beijing accused Western
countries of "provoking first" with
their sanctions.
April 1, 2021
"We can only talk and deal with
them in a way they understand and
will remember," foreign ministry
spokeswoman Hua Chunying told
reporters in Beijing.
"I think they will get used to it
gradually."
'Suicidal' brands
The reputations of several
Western brands have been shredded
in China this week after old statements
expressing concerns over the reports
of forced labour in cotton-rich Xinjiang
resurfaced on closely controlled social
media.
Chinese celebrities and tech firms
waded in, pulling partnerships with
brands from Nike and H&M to Adidas,
Burberry and Calvin Klein.
Nationalist tabloid Global Times
said H&M, which counts China as
its fourth-largest market, had been
"suicidal" in its remarks.
As the fashion retailer
disappeared from Chinese shopping
apps, H&M China said Wednesday
it "does not represent any political
position" and remained committed to
long-term investment in China.
The vituperation from Beijing also
brought into question a massive trade
pact with the European Union which is
in the final stages before enactment.
France on Thursday warned it
would take a firm stance on forced
labour in the pact, which must be
ratified by the bloc's 27 states and
approved by its parliament.
The Western move to box in China
over Xinjiang has been orchestrated
by new US President Joe Biden, who
has sought consensus against the
perceived aggressions of Beijing.
In his first presidential press
conference late Thursday, Biden said
he was not "seeking confrontation".
But a debut face-to-face
meeting between the two nations'
top diplomats last week in Alaska
descended into public mud-slinging.
AFP
39
 COMMENTARY
Empower kids
with digital access: UN watchdog
Nina Larson
P
roper digital access is no game
for children, it is a right that
each and every country should
guarantee, a UN watchdog said
last week.
Images of children huddled in
store parking lots to access the wifi
needed for their online schoolwork
have been common during the
pandemic, while sexual predators
have long stalked children in online
chatrooms.
Photo: Patricia Pradente
40
In its first such analysis, the
Committee on the Rights of the Child
found that countries are responsible
for rectifying such situations by
ensuring children have "meaningful"
and safe access to digital technologies.
"Governments really need to
think about giving as much access to
the digital environment as possible
to all children," committee member
Philip Jaffe told AFP.
April 1, 2021
"Not only to protect them but to
empower them."
"We are in a societal
transformation phase," he pointed
out, insisting that "we must make
sure that the human factor doesn't
get lost in these huge technological
advances."
The committee highlighted the
obligations of governments to ensure
children have equal access to the
digital technologies like those that
over the past pandemic year have
become vital to education.
Increasing inequalities
"If digital inclusion is not achieved,
existing inequalities are likely to
increase and new ones may arise," it
warned.
Jaffe acknowledged that currently
at least, "a world standard is really
impossible", since countries had
different means to provide digital
access to their children.
"But it is important that we keep
promoting this non-discrimination
approach worldwide."
Tasked with monitoring
Jaffe acknowledged that currently
at least, "a world standard is really
impossible", since countries had
different means to provide digital
access to their children.
implementation of the Convention
on the Rights of the Child, the panel's
18 independent experts spent two
years consulting with governments,
intergovernmental organisations, civil
society and children.
They spoke with more than 700
children and young people, aged
between nine and 22, across 27
countries, to get a feel for how digital
technology was impacting their rights.
They concluded that states
should take robust legislative
and administrative measures to
protect children from "harmful and
untrustworthy content".
Children, they said, needed to be
protected from all forms of violence
in the digital environment, including
from child trafficking, gender-based
violence, cyber-aggression, cyber-
attacks and information warfare.
"It is a dangerous world in the
digital world for many children. It is
very unregulated," Jaffe said.
He lamented that there were
relatively easy ways to ensure more
digital safety for children, but that
"nobody feels compelled to do so
because there is no legal requirement
to do it".
Privacy 'paramount'
Countries should strive to
introduce verifiable age requirements
for different online content, in the
same way as they have imposed age
limits at movie theatres.
"That technology exists," he said.
"These are easy things to do."
April 1, 2021
There should also be more
monitoring of chat rooms frequented
by youths and functions like direct
messaging -- often used by sexual
predators -- should be disabled for
users under a certain age.
He stressed the need for more
regulation to "nudge commercial
entities and the business sector
towards responsible content,"
including a requirement to conduct
risk assessments whenever new
websites or programmes are offered
to children.
“The idea is to have regulator
oversight to make sure that access is
broad, that bad business practices are
mitigated to a certain extent (and) that
children are protected."
The committee also highlighted
the growing importance of protecting
children's privacy, urging countries
to introduce laws barring private
companies from making money
from collecting children's digital data
records.
Jaffe pointed to the dangers of
all the data already accumulating
about children well before they reach
adulthood.
"Some companies may have data
on their sexual development, on their
masturbation habits or health issues
.. that will hinder their capacity to find
jobs or get healthcare."
"Privacy of the data is really
paramount."
AFP
41
 Photo: Mizzima

SHAN STATE

A
shell struck a home killing a man and wounding two other civilians during fighting between ethnic armed
organizations (EAOs) in northern Shan State on March 23, SHAN reported. Villagers in Kyaukme Township are
trapped in the middle of fighting between Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) and combined forces: Shan
State Progress Party (SSPP) and Ta’ang National Liberation Army. The same day in Hsipaw Township, villagers fled
fighting between RCSS and SSPP. According to a man who is helping them, nearly one-hundred civilians are sheltering
at Aung Mingalar Botaw Monastery. He said fighting was still breaking out near their homes in Kon Hser village-tract. An
SSPP official confirmed with SHAN the clashes with RCSS in the area and said the EAOs have initiated discussions.

KACHIN STATE

T
he Kachin Independence Organization/Army (KIO/A) captured a strategic mountaintop camp from the Myanmar
Army, in addition to several other camps located between Laiza and Mai Ja Yang in Kachin State, KNG reported.
According to Col Naw Bu, in charge of KIO/A information department, the EAO captured Alaw Bum on March
25 after seizing outposts at the base of the mountain. The Myanmar Army took Alaw Bum, located in Momauk
Township, from the KIO/A in the early ’90s.

42 April 1, 2021
 Photo: Hong Sar for Mizzima

Length of Nighttime curfew reduced in Nay Pyi Taw

T
he nighttime curfew (initially 8pm to 4 am) in eight townships in Nay Pyi Taw had been reduced to 10 pm to 4
am, according to news reports. The situation in Nay Pyi Taw was relatively stable, so the length of the nighttime
curfew in Nay Pyi Taw had been reduced since March 26. On February 8, the military council issued a curfew order
in eight townships in Nay Pyi Taw and across Myanmar. But martial law was announced on March 14 and 15 in
many townships in Yangon_ Hlaingtharyar, Shwepyitha, North Okkalapa, Dagon Seikkan, South Dagon and North Dagon.
Despite the martial law, on March 29, hundreds of people participated in anti-coup protests in South Dagon Township. At
least eight civilians were killed by the junta’s bloody crackdown on that day, according to The Assistance Association for
Political Prisoners (Burma).

Junta chief provides dinner party while his armed forces

do bloody crackdowns on Armed Forces Day

M
ilitary junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, on March 27, held a big dinner party while his armed forces
conducted bloody crackdowns against peaceful protesters across the country, according to local news reports.
More than 100 people were killed by the junta’s armed forces across Myanmar on March 27, which is the Armed
Forces Day, but the general public now label March 27 its former name Anti-Fascist Resistance Day. Images
posted on social media showed the coup leader walking a red carpet at the dinner party , greeting guests and sitting down
to a meal to mark the Armed Forces Day. Among the casualties by the junta’s bloody crackdown on that day were 11
children from nine towns across Myanmar, according to Myanmar Now.

April 1, 2021 43
 US, UK sanction Myanmar military
companies as crackdown
continues
T
he US and Britain announced
sanctions against a huge
military-owned conglomerate
in Myanmar on March 25, as
security forces continued to launch
brutal crackdowns against anti-coup
protesters.
International condemnation has
so far done little to quell the brutal
crackdown, but the United States and
Britain said Thursday it would impose
Photo: Caleb Perez
44
sanctions against the highly secretive
behemoth Myanmar Economic
Holdings Ltd, which gives army chiefs
access to enormous wealth.
"Today's sanctions target the
military's financial interests to help
drain the sources of finance for their
campaigns of repression against
civilians," UK Foreign Secretary
Dominic Raab said.
Washington announced it was
April 1, 2021
also imposing sanctions on Myanmar
Economic Corporation Limited (MEC).
The Myanmar military "controls
significant segments of the country's
economy through these holding
firms," said a US Treasury Department
statement.
The opaque groups have their
tentacles in industries as diverse as
beer, tobacco, transportation, textiles,
tourism and banking.
 Thai firms struggle in Myanmar’s
crisis
T
he chairman of the Thai-
Myanmar Business Council
says more than 100 small
Thai companies investing
in Myanmar have been hit hard
by political turmoil and could face
closure within six months, according
to a report by the Bangkok Post.
Kich Aungvitulsatit said the firms
were facing acute shortages of labour
and cash flow as growing protests
against the military regime are taking
their toll on business operations.
Bangkok. Photo: Road Trip With Raj
Myanmar workers and civil
servants alike have been participating
by the thousands in civil disobedience
campaigns and strikes since the
military coup on February 1.
Mr Kich told the newspaper that
the resulting labour shortages and
constrained cash flow could force
some of the Thai companies to close if
the situation does not improve.
Thailand is the sixth largest
foreign investor in Myanmar. Data
April 1, 2021
from the Directorate of Investment
and Company Administration in
Myanmar showed that in the five
years to December 2020, it had
approved foreign direct investment
(FDI) projects worth a total of US$935
million from Thailand. It showed
the top five FDI contributors in the
country are Singapore, China, Hong
Kong, Vietnam and Japan.
45
 Asian markets mostly rise but
inflation, virus fears cast shadow
A
sian markets rose March 25
but optimism over the pace of
economic recovery continued
to be offset by worries about
rising infections across Europe and
the continent's vaccine struggles, with
inflation concerns casting an ever-
present shadow.
After a year-long surge, global
equities have run out of steam with
expectations of a strong growth
rebound stoking fear that prices will
soar, forcing central banks to wind in
the ultra-low monetary policies that
have supported the rally.
And while the stock gains
have been boosted by the rollout
of inoculations -- particularly in
Britain and the United States --
Europe's stuttering launch has been
compounded by a jump in new
Photo: Mizzima
46
cases that has led to lockdowns
and containment measures being
reimposed.
That has many observers
questioning whether its economy
can recover as quickly as previously
hoped.
US markets sank again
Wednesday, led by a two percent drop
in the Nasdaq as technology firms
took a further hit from expectations
the Federal Reserve will have to lift
interest rates earlier than forecast,
despite repeated pledges by
policymakers that they will not budge.
Adding to the selling in New York
were fears Joe Biden will look to hike
corporate taxes to pay for his huge
economic rescue packages, while a
fractious meeting between US and
April 1, 2021
Chinese officials last week indicated
relations will not likely improve any
time soon.
"When the short term wobbles,
investors naturally start to fret about
those lingering longer-term concerns,"
said Axi strategist Stephen Innes.
"They are also hurting sentiment
with renewed worries about US tax
policy and a realisation that any
lingering hope of a reset in US-China
trade relations is unwarranted.
"The latter is quite a worrying
proposition as the two economic
behemoths draw battlegrounds,
setting the stage for a real dust-up as
the superpowers shift from vying for
supply-chain domination to battling
it out for global internet technology
supremacy."
Penrose Thitsa

EU targets 11 Myanmar people over coup, bloody crackdown

T
he European Union (EU) on March 22 imposed sanctions on 11 people linked to Myanmar's coup,
its most serious response since the military began bloody crackdowns against anti-coup protesters,
reported Reuters. At a meeting in Brussels, EU foreign ministers approved travel bans and asset
freezes. Myanmar has been already subject to an arms embargo, and sanctions against some senior
military officers have been in place since 2018. “We are going to take sanctions against 11 persons involved
in the coup and the repression of the demonstrators,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said. In the past,
the EU provided crowd control training to specialist Myanmar police units alleged to have been involved in a
violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters The EU foreign ministers meeting also approved sanctions
over abuses in China and Russia. The EU is due to place four Chinese officials and one state-run entity on a
blacklist over Beijing's crackdown on the Uighur minority after ambassadors gave the go-ahead last week.

CRPH urged tax officials to stop tax collection to cut finances of

junta

T
he Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), formed by elected parliamentarians after
the military coup in Myanmar, has announced that Customs Department officers and staff members
of ministries involved in tax collection must suspend all such activities until 30 September, in an
attempt to cut finances of the military junta, according to VOA. CRPH also announced that state-owned
enterprises must not transfer money to the army. Tin Tun Naing, the CRPH's caretaker Union Minister for
Economy, told VOA that the committee is also working hard to help freeze junta’s foreign reserves. “We are
trying to immediately block the flow of taxes to junta because they are a major source of funding for their
survival. They also earned revenues from oil and gas,” he said.

April 1, 2021 47
48 April 1, 2021
 Sand Stupa festival in Sittwe

R
akhine people make a Rakhine national symbol in the sand during the Sand Pagoda Festival
on the beach of Sittwe, Rakhine State, western Myanmar, 27 March 2021. The festival falls
on the full moon day of Tagaung, the last month of Myanmar's lunar calendar. People
make 'stupas' or 'pagodas' with sand along the beach during the event. Photo: EPA

April 1, 2021 49
Indian coin hunters
dive for fortunes in the sacred Ganges
Jalees Andrabi
A
s a stream of Hindu devotees
dip themselves in India's
sacred Ganges river for a
ritual believed to purify their
souls, a young boy plunges into the
water to find his fortune.
Rahul Singh is one of dozens
of coin pickers making a living by
retrieving offerings thrown into the
waterway by pilgrims visiting the
northern holy city of Haridwar.
Every day for six hours, the
13-year-old scours the chest-deep
water with a magnet attached to a
The city of Haridwar in India. Photo: Bhaskar Phundhir
50
long stick, as hymn-chanting crowds
toss in valuables.
"It needs a lot of effort but I enjoy
doing it," Singh told AFP, after fetching
30 rupees (45 US cents) worth of coins.
Watching him closely is Raja
Yadav, who was eight when he arrived
in the city as a runaway boy after
hearing tales of underwater treasures.
Yadav - nicknamed "Jhinga"
(shrimp) for his swimming prowess -
literally struck gold six years ago when
he found a necklace he was told was
April 1, 2021
worth $1,300.
Now 22, he leads a team of 15
picker-boys including Singh.
Last year's national coronavirus
lockdown saw visitors to Haridwar dry
up for several months, leaving Yadav's
team struggling to survive on their
meagre savings.
But like the pilgrims, Yadav had
unflinching faith in the river goddess,
and travellers returned this year,
undeterred by a recent surge in cases.
 "We always believe that Ganga is
our mother and she will never let her
children sleep hungry," he said.
"The pilgrims are back and we are
happily diving again."
Finders keepers
Rivers play a central role in Hindu
religious rituals, with devotees tossing
in offerings of money, clothes and
ornaments into the waters to show
gratitude for sustaining life.
In the Gangs, some immerse
the ashes of deceased relatives to
achieve "moksha" - liberation from
reincarnation.
During the bathing festival of
Kumbh Mela, immense crowds throng
the Ganges in the world's largest
religious gathering.
This year it is taking place in
Haridwar, where more than three
million people took part in the ritual
during one day in March.
Underwater treasure hunters use
their feet to feel out for the precious
metals on the riverbed, or dive in and
search with their naked eyes.
A one-day haul of coins adds up
to 300-400 rupees ($4.15-5.50) for
each boy, although that soars up to
1,000 rupees during Kumbh Mela,
Yadav said.
Merchants pocket a 20 percent
commission in exchange for currency
notes, while black-market buyers take
jewellery at half of retail price, and
copper and steel utensils are sold as
scrap.
The boys pick up coconuts and
religious paraphernalia to resell if
there aren't enough coins.
Coin pickers like Yadav's team
work all year round, braving faster and
deeper waters from heavier rainfall
during the monsoon season. Seasonal
Coin hunters keep busy searching for money, trinkets and offerings
thwon into the river by pilgrims. Photos: AFP
April 1, 2021
treasure hunters visit in October
when water levels are low due to an
upstream dam.
Singh says daily discoveries in the
river are a source of satisfaction.
He ran away from home in nearby
Uttar Pradesh state two years ago
and worked several odd jobs before
moving to Haridwar, where a friend
taught him swimming and coin-
picking skills.
The teenager now shares a shanty
in a nearby slum with more than a
dozen other coin hunters.
"Back home there was a lot of
tension and poverty, but I am happy
here," he said.
AFP
51