Myanmar junta accused of war crimes

Myanmar junta accused of war crimes

A year after the military coup, Myanmar continues to burn as new evidence emerges of the junta’s horrific atrocities. Efforts for justice and peace are being made against a tide of oppression and attacks.

Fortify Rights, a human rights group has accused Myanmar’s military of committing war crimes against civilians in Christian-majority Kayah state and called on the United Nations Security Council to impose a global arms embargo on the junta.

In a new report released on Tuesday, the group documented attacks on civilians, residential homes, churches, camps for displaced people and other non-military targets between May 2021 and January 2022.

The report is based on the testimony of 31 people including eyewitnesses and survivors. It found that at least 61 civilians have been killed in the predominantly Christian region. On Christmas Eve, the military massacred some 40 civilians including a child and two staff from Save the Children. A doctor said he found some bodies were burned beyond recognition and some showed signs of severe torture and injuries before death.

Since the February 2021 coup, Myanmar’s military has killed over 1,500 civilians and arrested more than 12,000. 

Prominent Indian citizens including Christians have called for the repeal of stringent anti-conversion laws, which they say have become tools to oppress and justify the persecution of minorities.

The signed petition addressed to President Ram Nath Kovind terms the anti-conversion laws against the values enshrined in the Indian constitution for the protection of the rights of minorities and other marginalized communities.

The appeal came as the legislative assembly in southern India’s Karnataka state passed an anti-conversion law despite strong opposition from minorities and rights groups. The law makes religious conversion a non-bailable offense and warrants imprisonment of three to 10 years and fines of up to 50,000 rupees.

Karnataka is one of the Indian states ruled by the pro-Hindu Bhartiya Janata Party that have passed similarly repressive anti-conversion laws. These laws are blamed for a rising tide of attacks and fabricated lawsuits against minorities including Christians. The New Delhi-based United Christian Forum has documented 53 attacks against Christians this year. 

A mentally ill person was brutally stoned to death for allegedly desecrating the Quran in Talumba town in Punjab province last Saturday in yet another mob violence over blasphemy. A mob lynched Mushtaq Ahmad after he was accused of burning pages of the Quran in a mosque.

The brutality came two months after a Sri Lankan citizen in Pakistan was killed and his body burned by a mob over blasphemy allegations. In the latest case, police charged some 300 persons and arrested 62 suspects.

Blasphemy is a serious criminal offense that carries the death penalty in Pakistan. Mob killings over accusations of blasphemy are also common. The Lahore-based Center for Social Justice estimates that at least 1,890 persons have been accused of committing blasphemy from 1987 to 2021.

Moreover, there have been 81 mob killings over blasphemy allegations and the victims included Muslims, Christians and Hindus.

South Korean priest Father Andrew Oh Sae-il, a professor of sociology at Sogang University in capital Seoul, has cautioned against Japan’s planned move to release contaminated water from the disaster-hit Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea.

The priest warned that the decision will have dangerous environmental and public health impacts. The priest warned that Japan’s arbitrary decision would have complex social, ecological, political and diplomatic repercussions.

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