Rights group slams Myanmar junta’s attacks on civilians in Chin state

The Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) on Monday condemned Myanmar’s military junta for attacking civilians in Chin state, where fighting between its forces and ethnic armed organizations has been ongoing since the Feb. 1 coup.

“The Burma Human Rights Network condemns the Burmese military’s attacks on civilians in the strongest possible terms,” the group said in a statement.

“Tensions in Chin state have dramatically escalated over the past month, with the junta building up their troop presence in the state and attacking civilians regularly. Chin state is majority Christian and ethnic minority and the junta has a longstanding history of targeting religious and ethnic minorities,” it added.

BHRN’s Executive Director, Kyaw Win, was quoted in the statement as saying that the junta “wants to punish the Chin people for their religion and ethnicity as well. The destruction of churches is a clear indication of the regime’s intent to cleanse another region of Burma of non-Buddhists and non-Bamars.”

The rights group called on the international community to act against the junta immediately before the violence escalates further.

The BHRN is a London-based group that works for human rights, minority rights and religious freedom in Myanmar.

Since seizing power in February, Myanmar's military has arrested the ruling party leadership, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and former President Win Myint, triggering nationwide anti-junta demonstrations. Since then, junta forces have killed around 1,000 people and detained another 5,400.