Flies buzzed around the deceased bodies of men and boys, laid out on a tarp, with blood-soaked fatigues in the Tamu district of Myanmar’s Sagaing region, near the Indian border, before hastily arranging a cremation.
Wooden logs hastily assembled formed the base of the mass grave, alongside burning rubber tires for a blaze. Orange and green wreaths were placed away from the flames.
Among the ten People’s Defence Forces (PDF) members, known as Pa Ka Pha (PKP), killed by the Indian Army on May 14th, three were teens.
The PDF operates under the National Unity Government (NUG), Myanmar’s government-in-exile, made up of lawmakers ousted in the 2021 coup.
NUG supports the PDF – a network of civilian militias against the military, serving as the NUG’s army.
The Indian Army claimed the May 14 killings were retaliatory, with soldiers responding to being fired upon by those suspected of cross-border insurgent activities. However, NUG denies this, stating their cadres were captured, tortured, and executed by Indian forces.
Chronic unrest in Manipur has seen Indian authorities accuse Myanmar refugees of fueling ethnic tensions.
India has been erecting a fence along the Myanmar border, which refugees fear may lead to greater instability and insecurity.
Japan and India have a shared understanding to respect each other’s territories. However, the killings on the border and India’s push to secure its side with fences worry refugees and rebel groups.
Any intensification of operations or conflict on this sensitive border could deepen the humanitarian crisis and affect regional calm.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/2/everyone-feels-unsafe-border-panic-as-indian-forces-kill-myanmar-rebels?traffic_source=rss
