A minesweeper’s story

The following story was written by a friend from Myanmar telling us about his mother’s cousin who was forced by the military to act as a human shield for a minesweeping operation. He wrote to us through a secret messaging platform as it is dangerous for him to share this account:

“I just read your post on the Insight Myanmar website about the novices who were killed by an explosive device and the use of villagers by the military as landmine sweepers. Just a few days ago, my mom’s cousin had the same experience.

Early one morning while he was washing his face, the devils came to the front of his house in the street. He saw them through the fence. A devil shouted out “House owners, house owners!” and “Anyone in the house?” At first he was shocked and hesitant to stand up or even sit or crawl into the house. He checked and judged that there were not that many as he only saw one soldier alone. Hence, he quickly decided to get up and respond to the soldier’s call, thinking he might just be begging for some food or water. He stood up and announced that he was at home. The soldier ordered him to come out of the house, so he opened the door. He then spoke angrily with red eyes, “You don’t even know that there is a landmine in front of your house.” (Perhaps he was drunk in the early morning, as his breath smelled of alcohol.) 

My uncle was shocked again as the soldier instructed him to come and join them to search for landmines, pointing to the other soldiers and his neighbors who had sad, gloomy faces. None of them had knowledge about how to search for landmines or explosives. He tried to give an excuse that he had no idea how to find landmines. “That was true. It made no sense” he said, when he told me his story the next morning.

He continued his account. He said that the devil didn’t accept his excuse and said, “No. No excuse! Come along right now!” He thought that there was no point in refusing anymore, so he left his house. Otherwise, he may have been hit by the butt of a gun or something even worse could happen. These are the country’s authorities demanding he follow their orders, so they can do anything to him and there is nothing he can do but accept. He was expected to search for something although he didn’t know what it looked like. Could it be like a black plastic bag or something round? He was supposed to search for something he had never seen before. He simply went along with the charade. After an hour, the soldiers let him rest but didn’t allow him to go back to his house. That afternoon, after a few hours, a long line of military and police trucks had formed carrying more troops who were ready to shoot anyone who moved! They were aiming in every direction to cover the whole road. It was just terrible. There is nowhere we can go for safety The trucks passed by very quickly, he said. He had no memory as he held his breath. Yes, we also saw them that same day. Later, we knew that there had been some explosions on the way, just before reaching the village where the minesweeping operations were being conducted. My uncle and his neighbors were forcefully used by the devils as human shields! They needed protection and they believed that the resistance groups would never harm civilians. This is completely opposite to  the soldiers' inhumane spirit and behavior, and they use our humanity against us in this way. Finally, after the traffic had already passed, he was allowed to return to his house and the soldiers went back to their station. 

That was a new story not heard before in this specific area. Now, all routes and directions of travel have become risky for the military and the people have become enemies in their minds. They started by aiming their guns at the people who peacefully conducted non-violent protests a year ago, to show their displeasure. Apparently, the law of Karma is cycling round to them right now in this very life, not waiting for the hereafter, but coming in the present!”