Facing the heat of ethnic armed groups and people’s defense force (PDF) in various parts of Myanmar (also known as Burma and Brahmadesh), the top military ruler made public statements that the regime in Naypietaw is committed for democracy and federalism in the southeast Asina nation. The chief of military junta forces Min Aung Hlaing insisted that any plan to break the country or disintegrate the national solidarity should be nullified.
The Burmese junta (popularly known as Tatmadaw), which engineered a coup on February 1, 2021 ousting a democratically elected government led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s party National League for Democracy (NLD), also used their supporters to stage demonstrations in favour of the nation. A public rally in Yangon (formerly Rangoon) on December 5 witnessed some people raising slogans against the terrorists (indicating the ethnic insurgents and anti-junta civilians) for aiming to annihilate the country.
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“Myanmar National Network organized the event in the car park in front of Yangon City Hall, next to the Mahabandoola park, at 9:30 am. Participants began by saluting the national flag, singing the national anthem together, and observing one-minute silence in honour of the fallen Tatmadaw members, police, civil servants and those killed in action,” reported Global New Light of Myanmar, a military-run daily newspaper.
Afterwards, the protesters shouted slogans like ‘Oppose the countries that interfere in Myanmar’s internal affairs, behind the scenes’, ‘Stop the covert acts of supporting territories immediately’, ‘We don’t want the countries that encourage saboteurs’, etc. Another anti-terrorist rally was organised on Pyinmana-Taung Nyo road in Zabuthiri township under Naypietaw union territory on Monday. The peace-loving people from other parts of the country launched similar campaigns denouncing the terrorists, added the report.
The latest wave of gun fighting broke out on 27 October, when three ethnic minority groups (namely Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, Ta’ang National Liberation Army and Arakan Army) coordinated their offensive in northern areas of Shan State. Named Operation 1027, the offensive has expanded to more areas under Kayah (formerly Karenni), Mandalay, Sagaing, Chin, etc and it achieved some successes as Tatmadaw had to lose nearly 200 military camps and nine towns till date. The Arakan Army launched an offensive in Rakhine localities too killing many soldiers.
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Till the end of November, over 4,200 civilians were killed and 25,000 arrested by the junta forces across Myanmar. The soldiers have torched at least 76,000 properties in different localities and thus made 3,33,500 civilians homeless. No less than 150 media personnel were also detained by the military council and some 25 are still inside various jails. At least three journalists died of military atrocities in separate incidents. Days back, the Geneva-based global media safety and rights body Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) expressed serious concern over the imprisonment of working journalists in Myanmar and urged the authorities to ensure fair trials to them.
Within one month of the combined offensive, the junta had slipped into the existential crisis. So they are speaking a different language to hide their misdeeds. Recently, the mlitary dictator Hlaing, who functions as Prime Minister of Myanmar, stated that the regime will follow the Constitutional guidelines. He claimed that whenever the terrorists harm the national causes, the concerned regions and the residents have to suffer. Mentioning about Rakhine State, the military chief argued that the Rakhine region has seen development after the military government took various initiatives.
However, he asserted that the AA members have created instability in the region. Talking about the natural disasters, which often surface in the region, Hlaing stated that the military government continues the rescue and relief operations. He accused the AA for causing troubles in MraukU, Kyauktaw and Paletwa regions, and cautioned that the armed disturbances will negatively impact the local population.