Reflections of a PDF leader
The following journal entry was sent to us from a PDF leader, expressing his objectives, and the challenges his team is now facing.
“Hmm, things haven't been going well lately. Most of our donors are being tracked by the military. Their method of tracking is through the mobile transactions such as K Pay and Wave. Normally, the military would freeze your accounts and they would try to capture you in your home within a week. Afterwards, they would give up. Because of that, the donors tend to let their guard down and go back to their home. It has been like that for months until recently where the military is attempting to recapture those who donated even from 10 months ago. As this time is too sudden, many people are being captured.
So, some of our donors are currently on the escape and I have been working with a comrade to bring them out to safety. In addition to that, we have other problems on the ground that concern serial murder and abuse of power even among the PDFs and LDFs.
Some of the cases, they have been independant and probably not intentional. But there are cases that are so dangerous we are working within and without our alliance to find out the truth and hold the perpetrators responsible. Regardless of whether we are PDF or LDF, I think our responsibility is to protect those vulnerable and in need of help. As such, despite the controversy of some delicate matters, we have been trying our best to make sure the civilian body is not harmed from our decisions.
Likewise, the military has been cunning and divisive. They would wear our uniforms after taking down a base and then commit all sorts of crimes in our guise. So, everyone has been careful to not fall in their trap. With regards to logistics, we have been running out of war supplies such as explosives and ammunitions.
Current situation is such that even the most powerful defense forces are running out of everything and we can't say that aloud in fear the military would know that we are barely hanging by. In addition to that, it has been horrible lately in Kayah State, Shan State, Chin State and Yaw Region where the civilians are intentionally attacked by the military. We have a lot of villages being burned down and we couldn't save many lives in various locations as our war supplies are truly running low.
These days, we are seeing signs of the military shutting down more of the internet and phone lines. Although we have been preparing the countermeasures, we do not have enough communication devices such as the radio stations and walkie talkies. It is like we know what should be done but we are incapable of it. That is the current situation as of moment.”