Upper Myanmar is Under Assault

The following essay submission comes from a local resident who has asked not to be identified for reasons of safety.

The Sagaing Region has borne an outsized burden of suffering out of all the regions and states of Myanmar since the 2021 military coup. Geologically, the region comprises a vast area of plains inhabited largely by Buddhist Bamar people. Due to the dominance of the Bamar in the Myanmar military, which has ruled the country with an iron fist for decades, many members of the nation’s other ethnic groups have misunderstood us Bamar people as a whole. However, after the coup that overthrew the civilian government and detained many civilian leaders, Bamar people in the plains of central Myanmar, which includes cities such as Yangon and Mandalay as well as rural areas, have become increasingly involved in the peaceful protest movement. Then, following the brutal crackdowns on these protests, hundreds of Bamar young people have taken steps to defend their villages, with many joining self-defense forces to protect themselves, their families and their communities from the military’s inhumane arrests and raids. They have been supported by many communities in the region known as “Anyar,” or the upper region of Myanmar. In response to their resistance, the military has raided numerous villages and burned down thousands of homes in Sagaing Region.

I am from this region; actually, I am from one of the areas worst affected by the coup. Before, it was very peaceful and one of the most developed regions of Myanmar; it was far (both physically and psychologically) from the many-decade-long, civil war that has raged in the remote and hilly ethnic areas of the country. The western part of this township is mainly rice fields and farmland interspersed with villages and small hamlets. Some say that the Bamar people have enjoyed the benefits of peace since the country became independent. The fact is, members of the majority Bamar have also suffered from human rights violations, abuse and economic injustice under military administrations, though not to the extent of the country’s other states and regions. Yet during the socialist administration after 1972, people in my home region also suffered from poverty and human rights violations.

The Bamar people of this Anyar region, just like people in other states and regions, were happy to see the democratic transition from 2010 to 2015, and inspired and delighted to elect the first purely civilian government in 2015. But their happiness did not last long, evaporating with the brutal crackdown after 2021 military coup. At first, the rural areas of the township had been almost under the complete control of local people’s defense forces; however, dalans (informers) and pyu-saw-htees (supporters who the military equips with weapons) called the military into the township and together they burned down numerous villages. According to Data for Myanmar, an independent research group, 789 civilian houses in my home township alone were burned from February 1, 2021, to December 31, 2023. Despite this large figure, it is one of the lesser- damaged townships in Sagaing!

While the military was raiding and burning villages in Sagaing, they also made arbitrary arrests. The monastery and community where I volunteered in rural development projects now lies inside a combat zone and I have not dared to travel there for over two years, despite it being just a short distance from town. The military took as its base not only the town’s police station and general administration office, but also a monastery where Buddhist monks from all over the township used to gather annually for religious events. Frequently in the day and even during the night at times, soldiers will randomly fire their powerful weapons from the monastery grounds, with spent cartridges flying all over this monastery. And this is a military which justifies its brutality in order to “protect” Buddhism! Indeed, since July 2021, there have been several raids into villages and hamlets close to the monastery. Every time the soldiers go on these raids, they cross through the monastery compound. In this way, sadly, these peaceful compounds have become the staging grounds for atrocious violence and assault…