A news report horrified the people on 15 February 2023, as the so-called PDF terrorists, subordinates of CRPH and NUG declared as terrorist groups launched a remote mine attack on a school bus getting one female student killed and 10 others injured. The students were on their way back home after sitting exams at school in Ayadaw township of Sagaing region.
That was undeniably an atrocious act of terrorism deliberately targeting the students since that was the remote-mine attack on a school bus running on its route at a routine time in school days. Everyone is overcome with grief seeing the photos of the casualties of innocent students in white-and-green-coloured school uniforms. Every father and mother, in the shoes of the victims’ families, is totally disgusted at the way the terrorists behaved towards the innocent children.
Reviewing the atrocious incident, that was an obvious attack on the education of the children who are the future of the Nation, the dream and hope of their parents, besides an act of terrorism targeting the children who are apolitical. How the international community would respond to this? They should consider whether they ought to continue abetting and supporting PDF terrorists who are audaciously killing people in cold blood and the NUG group that is masterminding the acts of terrorism according to undeniable evidence.
Children are the future of a Nation and a society, and the precious jewels as well. The minors are usually under special care and control of their parents, relatives, guardians, Government and relevant societies as they do not possess the experience and physical and mental development to protect themselves compared to the adults. Therefore, every country set laws and regulations to legally protect children from dangers and their rights.
According to International Law, every law to protect non-combatants generally covers children in the terms of general protection. Moreover, many other rights-related laws including the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child adopted in 1924 and the Declaration of the Rights of the Child adopted in 1959 have protected the rights of children.
As child rights are generally protected in peacetime, there are also many other legislations especially protecting the rights of the child in wartime or armed conflicts. The Article 77 of Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions adopted in 1977 states, ‘Children shall be the object of special respect and shall be protected against any form of indecent assault. The Parties to the conflict shall provide them with the care and aid they require, whether because of their age or for any other reason.’ The Additional Protocol II relating to the protection of victims of non-international armed conflicts prescribes more minute provisions with regard to the protection of children.
Myanmar has already enacted ‘The Child Rights Law’ on 23 July 2019. The law prescribes Chapter XVI ‘Protection of Children from Violence’ protecting the child from physical violence, psychological violence or sexual violence. Moreover, the Chapter XVII of ‘Children and Armed Conflict’ also includes a clause urging all parties concerned to treat all children associated with, affected by or displaced by armed conflict as victims by considering the best interests of children to be paramount.
Our country and international community provide the children with legal protections to ensure they are in good care and not to get them involved in armed conflicts. In Myanmar, nevertheless, the PDF terrorists, subordinates of CRPH and NUG groups, are mercilessly killing the whole family including children and babies under the pretext of not supporting them. Besides, they are also having the children take part in terrorist bomb attacks. The people are witnessing and hearing about the gruesome and horrifying incidents.
So far, 143 children have been killed while 392 others injured due to the terrorist attacks of CRPH and NUG declared as terrorist groups and their subordinates so-called PDF terrorists. Statistics say the Sagaing region holds the highest number of child deaths in terrorist attacks followed by the Magway region. The majority of the child victims were killed in the incidents of murdering a whole family of alleged informers for having different political colours; explosions of IEDs planted by terrorists; reckless test firing weapons into villages by so-called PDF terrorists; arson attacks on villages and dropping bombs wantonly using drones. These included other certain incidents in which children were killed for getting used as pawns in terrorist attacks of so-called PDF terrorists.
Table showing the deaths of children killed by CRHP and NUG Declared as Terrorist Groups and So-called PDF terrorists from 1 February 2021 to 11 February 2023
Sr. Region/State Child deaths Total
Injured Children Total
Male Female Male Female
1 Nay Pyi Taw 2 2
2 Kachin State 4 4 12 5 17
3 Kayah State 2 5 7
4 Kayin State 1 1 12 7 19
5 Chin State 1 1 3 3 6
6 Sagaing Region 42 24 66 69 49 118
7 Taninthayi Region 3 3 6 13 3 16
8 Bago Region 3 7 10 22 12 34
9 Magway Region 15 6 21 15 14 29
10 Mandalay Region 8 9 17 38 11 49
11 Mon State 2 2 4 8 11 19
12 Rakhine State 2 2 2 2
13 Yangon Region 3 4 7 24 17 41
14 Shan State 2 2 18 13 31
15 Ayeyawady Region 2 2 1 1 2
Total 83 60 143 241 151 392
From such incidents, some particular ones will be extracted and reported in summary to let on to the people and international community. On 11 February 2023, so-called PDF terrorists killed seven family members of a village administrator U Myint Aung including his wife, daughters and grandchildren in Nyaung Shin Gon village, Palauk township of Taninthayi region. The killed victims included 17-year-old boy Nay Htet Thein, 16-year-old boy Zayyar Aung, 13-year-old boy Soe Min Paing, 9-year-old girl May Zin Phyu and a one-year-old baby boy who was yet to be named. The terrorists brutally killed a whole family without leaving a babe in their arms for merely their grandfather was the village administrator.
Similarly, PDF terrorists also massacred a whole family of eight including U Kyaw Hlaing, 65 (selling bamboo and logs) in Nga Myaung village, Kanbalu township of Sagaing region on 14 January 2023. Out of the victims, six-year-old boy Khant Zayyar Myo, 11-year-old girl Theint Shwe Bon San and 15-year-old girl Su Myat San were just minors. As a notable fact, the family of U Kyaw Hlaing were supporters of the NLD party, and however, they were killed with a reason for not providing cash assistance to them although the victim’s family had earned a good income from their business of selling bamboo and logs. It is also possible that the victim’s family probably provided cash assistance to the terrorists before and stopped doing so later as they no more believed in the terrorism of PDFs. Anyhow, the above-mentioned incident is strong evidence indicating that the CRPH and NUG declared as terrorist groups and their subordinates of so-called PDF terrorists are brutally killing everyone including children if they do not support and provide money to them regardless of political colours.
On 19 May 2021, so-called PDF terrorists brutally killed village administrator U Soe Nyunt, his wife Ma Tin Mar Soe, and also their three-year-old son Swan Htet Aung at their house in Shwe Pauk Pin village, Myaung township of Sagaing region. There are many similar incidents in which families of village/ward administrators including children were mercilessly killed. The terrorists are massacring all family members including babes in arms if their father or grandfather is a ward/village administrator. So, take serious consideration whether that is a good reason enough for the mass killing of the whole family.
Likewise, so-called PDF terrorists brutally massacred a whole family of six including U Ye Myint, 57 in Kyigon village of Taze township on 23 September 2023. They were killed with a reason for the family of a police force member. Among the killed victims of U Ye Myint’s granddaughters, Nu Nu Khaing and Chaw Su Hlaing, were just teenagers around 18 and the youngest one Kyawt Hmu Kay Thwal was merely four years old. Being the family of a police force member, all of them including underage girls were mercilessly killed.
An IED explosion took place at the entrance of the township football stadium located on the right side of Pyinma street of Chauk township, Magway region on 8 February 2023. The IED blast left gruesome deaths of 7-year-old boy Moe Yan Ko, and 11-year-old boy Win Naing Min. According to the accounts of witnesses, the blast reportedly occurred from a plastic bag carried together by the boys. The children were paid and used by CRPH and NUG declared as terrorist groups and their subordinates of PDF terrorists to blast the public stadium. This incident happened identically with the threatening words of Zaw Wai Soe from NUG declared as a terrorist group, ‘Don’t open the small bags, if you do, it will end up your life.”
Observing such incidents, so-called PDF terrorists are killing people with different political colours, civil servants and others, with the same political colours, who do not support them. In doing such crimes, it is obvious that they are even killing children who are totally innocent. As the cause of the horrendous incidents, so-called PDF terrorist groups are committing such crimes on the ground as per the instructions and instigations of NUG declared as a terrorist group. There are plenty of undeniable evidence and records of their crimes. Such evidence is repeatedly informed to international organizations and international police forces and described in news reports as well so that the world knows about them.
Sadly, some countries are using various means not to spread the news reports about the heinous crimes of murders committed by CRPH and NUG declared as terrorist groups and their subordinates so-called PDF terrorists on the pages of world-known media outlets and also engaging with the NUG and NUG terrorist group indirectly abetting the terrorism. CRPH and NUG were declared as terrorist groups and PDF terrorists on the pretext of revolution are intentionally killing and murdering unarmed civilians (non-combatants) who do not support their acts of terrorism even without sympathizing with the children. Regardless of the various definitions of ‘terrorism’ and ‘acts of terrorism’ in the world, such brutal and inhumane killings of CRPH and NUG declared as terrorist groups and their subordinate PDF terrorists today are undeniable acts of terrorism intolerable and morally unacceptable to any world society and organization. That is the message I want to deliver again to every individual, organization and country that is engaging with the CRPH and NUG declared as terrorist groups.
Such horrendous incidents in which children were brutally terrorized, attacked and killed were the serious felonies committed by so-called PDF terrorists under the instructions of CRPH and NUG declared as terrorist groups with the dogma ‘Everyone who differs from my attitude is my enemy’. The Government and the Tatmadaw, which are fully responsible to protect the entire population, are taking all possible security measures to protect the people from the dangers of terrorism in conformity with International Law and domestic laws. To draw a conclusion, certain countries and international organizations that are providing financial support to and engaging directly or indirectly with terrorist groups with political reason, should seriously reason and consider the dogma of utter devastation and the acts of terrorism of CRPH and NUG declared as terrorists and so-called PDF terrorists who are killing people including even babes in arms.
Reference
Geneva Convention IV 1949, Additional I and II 1977, Geneva Declaration of the Rights of Child 1924, Declaration of the Rights of Child 1959.
Republic of the Union of Myanmar, The Child Rights Law, 2019.
