Graves in a confiscated Christian cemetery in Myitkyina, the capital of Burma's northern Kachin State are being flattened with a bulldozer for the construction of government buildings by the local Burmese ruling junta authorities, said local Christian sources.

A bulldozer is being used in the Dukahtawng (Du Mare) Christian cemetery in Myitkyina since early this week for the construction of a government office. The bulldozer has already cleared half the three acres of land in the cemetery, church sources said.

Eyewitnesses told KNG over telephone that some people are desperately moving the remains of their dead to new cemeteries but some are yet to do so due to many difficulties. The major constraint is the cost. It is costing relatives and members of the family of those buried Kyat 200,000 (est. US $164) to shift one grave.

Another problem is that the remains in the graves cannot be identified because the cemetery is being cleared by the bulldozer. The area is being leveled before all the remains can be moved to new places, residents of Dukahtawng said. When last reports came in the bulldozer got stuck in the mud.

According to Dukahtawng church sources, the cemetery was owned by two Christian churches -- the ethnic Kachin Baptist and Roman Catholic Church in Dukahtawng Quarter and it is situated between Dukahtawng and Jan Mai Kawng quarters in the township.

The cemetery is 48 years old and has been in use since 1960. Restrictions were placed in burial in 2007 when the cemetery was confiscated by the current junta's No. (1) Bureau of Special Operation commander and former northern command commander, Lt-Gen Ohn Myint. Now the new Northern Military Command (Ma Pa Kha) commander Maj-Gen Soe Win is carrying forward the work in the cemetery, sources said.

Mr. Awng Wa, chairman of Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG) on the Sino-Burma border said, "It was an act of discrimination by Burma's ruling junta that the Christian cemetery was confiscated.  It is a condemnable act of the regime."

First, the confiscated graveyard was handed over to Myitkyina Township Municipal Office by Lt-Gen Ohn Myint. However it was again handed over a second time for the construction of government offices of the Social Security by the township Municipal office, added Church sources.

Just before the cemetery was being cleaned up a big poster with the words 'Castor oil plant plantation project' was put up in front of the cemetery, added eyewitnesses.

Earlier, the leaders of two churches – the Baptist and Roman Catholic Church had appealed repeatedly to the ruling junta in Naypyidaw to stop confiscation of the graveyard. The appeal was also made to successive former northern command commanders but it went unheeded, said Church sources.

The junta discriminates against the Christian community in Kachin State and the rest of the country by confiscating Christian-owned land. It creates difficulties with its policies on constructing Churches, said Church sources.