The brutality of the military junta in Myanmar has assumed such proportions that even an international body like the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which does not interfere with the internal affairs of its member states, has voiced its condemnation. The latest instance of the savage repression by the regime is the killing last week of over 100 people in an airstrike by the Myanmar military. This is reported to be one of the deadliest so far in the civil war that is raging in the country since the military staged a coup preventing an elected government from assuming charge 1 February, 2021. The attack was directed at Pa Zi Gyi – a village in the north-eastern Sagaing region – where a ceremony was being held by the National Unity Government (NUG) in exile, a parallel administration, for an unit of its People’s Defence Forces (PDFS) militia. The air strike killed both armed men and civilians. The barbarity was such that helicopter gunships kept shooting at survivors, hindering their efforts to recover mutilated bodies of victims and ferry the injured to hospital. This just goes to prove, once again, that people have, from ancient times, been massacred by their own people.
Communities in Sagaing have put up the strongest opposition to military rule. As many army convoys are being ambushed now on the roads, the junta is using air power more widely, targeting symbols of defiance of its rule. This includes schools and health clinics. This ‘scorched earth’ campaign of the military is intended to break the backbone of the resistance in the country.
ASEAN has in an unambiguous language condemned the airstrike and bombing. Its statement came within 24 hours after the Myanmar military confirmed the air attack. “All forms of violence must end immediately, particularly the use of force against civilians,” the ASEAN said. The only way out of the turmoil, it stated categorically, is to create a congenial environment for an inclusive national dialogue. These are mere meaningless words against people in power anywhere in the world.
The ASEAN, a 10-member regional bloc that includes Myanmar, has a long-held principle of staying out of its members’ internal affairs. But, it deviated from this policy considering the violence by the military junta on innocent civilians and prepared a five-point peace plan with Min Aung Hlaing, the military commander controlling the government. The peace plan calls for an end to hostilities and inclusive dialogue, but violence in the country has only escalated. After the killings in Pa Zi Gyi village, the ASEAN said it cannot pass off the mindless mayhem as an internal affair of Myanmar.
The attack came days after heavy fighting in southern Karen state sent thousands fleeing across the border into Thailand. The conflict has killed thousands and led to the displacement of about 1.2 million people across Myanmar. Two years after the coup, PDFS and ethnic armed groups opposed to the military continue to deny the regime control over vast swathes of the country. However, the military ruler, Min Aung Hlaing, has been refusing to engage with the NUG, calling his opponents “terrorists”, out to destroy the country.
ASEAN has punished Myanmar for the lack of progress on the peace plan by barring it from the bloc’s summits but some members have called for tougher action. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has said ASEAN must prove its “relevance” by helping to resolve the crisis in Myanmar and called on the bloc to be more assertive.
But, both the ASEAN and the UN appear to be powerless to put an end to what is being stated as “crime against humanity” as China and Russia have been backing the regime. In fact, the military used Chinese aircraft for the deadly attack on Pa Zi Gyi. There were at least 600 air attacks by the military against its own people between February 2021 and January 2023.
The military has the legal obligations to protect civilians while dealing with hostilities. But there has been blatant disregard for international law. This has prompted the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, to say that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the military and its affiliated militias are responsible for an extremely broad range of human rights violations and abuses since the coup.
Time is running out. The international community needs to rise to the occasion and take steps to end the systematic carnage being perpetrated by the military junta in some similar way the Russian invasion of Ukraine or China’s attempt to take over Taiwan is being handled.