Commander of the Shan State South’s Mongnawng-based Military Operations Command # 2, Col Kyaw Zan Myint, in charge of rebuilding houses of victims of the junta’s latest ‘Scorched Earth Campaign’ in July, is accused of failing to meet the deadline, according to sources among civil servants in Laikha Township.
The commander was reportedly summoned to the military tribunal earlier in the month. However, there has been no information as to where he is at present: Taunggyi or Naypyidaw, said a civil servant, who preferred to remain anonymous.
Meanwhile, the construction project has been suspended. So far about 90 houses have been built in Tardmawk village tract in Laikha Township and three houses out of 125 affected houses in Hokhai village tract in Mongkeung Township have been constructed.
“If he is lucky, he will only be terminated from service. If not, he will go to jail,” the source said.
In early September, Col Kyaw Zan Myint was assigned by the Chairman of Shan State (South) Peace and Development Council and Commander of Eastern Region Command, Brig-Gen Ya Pyae, to rebuild houses in the affected villages. All houses were to be two-storied and all were to be designed on the Nargis home model.
He was reportedly ordered to complete the job by the end of September, but had ordered his subordinate officers to finish it by December instead.
The reasons for taking action against him were not only his failure to finish the construction project, but also since he was running a counter insurgency campaign leading to losses in men and weaponry, sources said.
In addition, the commander was unable to keep the lid on information of the scorched earth campaign, which was leaked to the press. Neither was he able to organize villagers to cooperate with the army, said sources.
Some battalion commanders under the command of Col Kyaw Zan Myint are believed to be asking local officials of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) and other departments’ to help the commander. The officials are being asked to tell the court that the campaign was not waged by their force, but by the members of the former Shan State Army (SSA) South's 758th Brigade Commander, Sao Mong Zeun who surrendered to the Burmese military in 2006.
Between 27 July and 1 August, 500 houses, more than 200 granaries in villages in Mongkeung, Laikha and Kehsi townships were burnt down by Burmese Army units under the command of the MOC#2. An estimated 10,000 villagers from almost 40 villages in the townships were forcibly relocated, according to Shan rights groups.
“He was just a scapegoat for Brig-Gen Ya Pyae,” a source said, “As he was merely following orders.”
