By NJ Thakuria

Guwahati: Amnesty International has urged the Burma government in NayPieTaw to allow six farmers from Chin province ‘to return to their homes in safety and without fear of reprisal’, as they are now hiding after facing tortures from the Burmese Army personnel.

Chin farmers namely U Maung Sein, U Kyaw Aung, U Aye Hla, U Aung Kyaw Hla, U Kyaw Myint Oo and U Aung So were subjected to ill-treatment and torture by the Burmese men in uniform and they are still ‘at risk of further human rights violations after speaking out publicly about their ordeal’, said a statement of Amnesty International issued form its Secretariat in London.

The Chin province of western Burma (now known as Myanmar) has mountainous localities adjacent to India’s Mizoram State. Its habitants are mostly the ethnic Chins and 90 per cent of them are Christian, similar to ethnic Mizo people of northeast India. The underdeveloped Burmese province often gets international media headlines for rampant killing, rape and atrocities by the Burmese soldiers over the indigenous population.

The international rights body also urged the conscious citizens of the globe to raise voices for ‘a prompt, impartial and effective investigation into allegations of torture and other ill-treatment by the Myanmar Army’ towards the Chin farmers. It also insisted that the suspected ‘perpetrators, including those with command responsibility’

should be brought under the independent civilian courts.

Mentionable is that some  Burmese soldiers, understood to be under the command of Light Infantry Battalion 344, detained and mercilessly beat

40 years old farmer U Maung Sein from Kone Pyin village on 28 August 2014.

They (Burmese soldiers) had accused him of having contact with the Chin National Army (CNA), an armed group which operates in Myanmar’s western Chin State,” said the Amnesty statement.

The episode did not end here. The soldiers next day detained two more farmers namely U Kyaw Aung and U Aye Hla and beat all of them. In the next two days, the soldiers detained  four other farmers namely  U Aung Kyaw Hla, U Kyaw Myint Oo, U Aung So and U Sanay Aung.

They were tied up, beaten and kicked. As a result of the torture they suffered swelling to their faces and other organs, claimed the statement adding that U Sanay Aung finally managed to escape on 1 September and fled to India.

The six others were held until 5 September. Prior to their release, the detained farmers were forced to sign a statement admitting to having contact with the CNA and promising never to contact them again, claimed the statement.

After their release, all six men fled to Paletwa town on 8 September and sent a written complaint to the Chin government. Among them U Aung Kyaw Hla could travel to Rangoon for medical treatment suspecting a blood clot in his brain because of the military tortures.

The Amnesty International also emphasized on Myanmar government ratifying the UN convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and also incorporating these provisions in domestic law and implement it in the policy and practices.