Myanmar police told to kill own family members if they are against army

A police officer who recently fled to India from Myanmar has alleged that cops there were told to kill their own family members if they went against the army, which has taken over power in a coup and unleashed a brutal crackdown of pro-democracy protesters.

He is among a group of 34 police officers and one firefighter who over the last two weeks escaped to India’s northeastern state of Mizoram which shares the border with Myanmar.

The officer, who hails from Myanmar’s northwestern town of Tedim, said they were told after the coup to “shoot people and not just the people, we were told to shoot our own family if they are not on the side of the army.”

“We cannot hurt our people, that’s why we came to Mizoram,” the officer told the Associated Press, which noted that it could not independently verify the claims.

Another person from the group of policemen said they were working under the Myanmar government. “We left our family in Myanmar. We do not know what is happening to our family, but they will face a lot of problems from the army. We came to Mizoram for shelter, we will die if we go back there,” he said.

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He pointed out that they cannot reach their parents due to telecommunication problems, but what they have heard is that their family members are very scared to go out of their homes. “I’m hoping that one day we will meet again,” the officer said.

On the Indian side of the border, a few members of the group are currently spending their time watching television and doing chores while some, who have their mobile phones, have been trying to connect with their families.

The officers while sharing their stories, raised the three-finger salute, which traces its origins to the Hunger Games books, and has become a symbol of resistance that is being used by the pro-democracy protesters against Myanmar’s military rulers. It was used by pro-democracy protesters in Thailand and Hong Kong as well.

Myanmar, which shares a 1,643-kilometre border with India, has asked the Indian authorities to return the police officers, who have been given shelter by Indian villagers. However, the Indian authorities have not given an exact number of people who have crossed over from Myanmar.

On Sunday Mizoram’s chief minister said he has talked with a member of a committee of ousted lawmakers in Myanmar that is trying to reestablish the civilian government.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with #Myanmar in these trying times,” tweeted Mizoram’s chief minister Zoramthanga.

According to news reports, Mizoram officials have also asked the Indian government to help people fleeing Myanmar even as the country’s home ministry had previously directed border states to stop the influx from Myanmar.

“We have to help them in the time of need. We asked the Indian government to involve (itself) more in the local politics of Myanmar,” said Mizoram lawmaker K Vanlalvena.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), an activist group, 261 people have killed since the coup.

On Tuesday, Myanmar military’s spokesman Zaw Min Tun told media that he felt “sorry” for the deaths of the protesters but accused the anti-coup protesters of widespread destruction of property and of fanning unrest.

On 1 February, hours before the first sitting of the new parliament, the military arrested Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s President WinMyint and other leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD) citing election fraud in the November 2020 elections.

In the elections, Ms Suu Kyi-led NLD had won 396 out of the 476 available seats while the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party had won only 33 seats. 

Additional reporting by agencies