Timing of Deadly Yangon Blast Suspiciously Convenient for Myanmar Junta

By The Irrawaddy 3 June 2022

Coincidentally or not, bizarre issues occur in military-ruled Myanmar when somebody internationally famend is within the nation, particularly in the event that they’re visiting on the invitation of the regime.

Keep in mind the unusual simultaneous blazes at two military-owned procuring malls in Yangon in April final 12 months, which occurred as anti-regime protesters throughout the nation have been attacking each junta goal inside their attain? The blazes occurred whereas CNN reporter Clarissa Ward was within the nation being given a guided tour by the regime. Curiously, the fires broke out throughout curfew hours.

Many individuals imagine the regime itself torched the shops, hoping to persuade the community’s chief worldwide correspondent that “rioters”—the navy’s euphemism for anti-regime protesters—have been making an attempt to destabilize the nation. The hypothesis was fueled by the nightly claims by newscasters on state-run TV that authorities places of work, native degree administration places of work and police stations have been underneath assault by “rioters”. When her studies on Myanmar have been aired a number of days later, sadly for the regime, there was nothing concerning the fires. Following the blazes, the regime mentioned it had launched investigations however nothing has been heard since then.

On Tuesday, an explosion occurred at a bus cease in downtown Yangon. The regime mentioned one man was killed and 9 injured, including that the fatality was a Individuals’s Protection Power (PDF) member killed whereas making an attempt to detonate the bomb. PDF teams, which have been combating the regime throughout the nation since final 12 months, comprise the armed wing of Myanmar’s parallel Nationwide Unity Authorities (NUG). Each the NUG and the PDF have been designated as terrorist teams by the regime.

The NUG’s Ministry of Protection, which controls the PDFs, denounced the assault, saying its code of conduct prohibits PDFs from threatening or focusing on civilians and “solely the navy and their system are respectable targets.”

It added that the regime has a historical past of committing violence in opposition to civilians as a way to discredit the resistance, accusing it of making an attempt to “blame ethnic resistance teams and revolutionary forces for comparable incidents previously.”

The NUG’s Yangon Army Command, which oversees the resistance teams that perform killings and bombings of regime targets in Yangon, mentioned neither the city guerrilla teams nor the PDFs had something to do with the blast. Civil Guerrilla Power-YGN, one of many underground resistance teams energetic in Yangon, mentioned the bombing was carried out by the regime and its affiliated organizations to smear the anti-regime revolution internationally.

Notably, Tuesday’s blast occurred following information of a deliberate go to by UN Particular Envoy Noleen Heyzer to the nation on the invitation of junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.

Given the junta’s well-worn tactic of making an attempt to discredit the ousted Nationwide League for Democracy (NLD), the NUG and the PDFs for every thing unhealthy that occurs in post-coup Myanmar, individuals have speculated about whether or not the regime was behind the downtown blast, in yet another soiled trick to painting the PDFs as terrorists who kill civilians, presumably to draw the UN envoy’s consideration earlier than her journey in addition to to smear the teams on the world stage. What’s extra, the explosion occurred following US and Malaysian officers’ conferences with the NUG’s international minister through the latest US-ASEAN Summit, from which regime chief Min Aung Hlaing was excluded. The minister can also be identified to have held clandestine conferences with officers from Affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) international locations.

Many individuals discover it arduous to imagine the blast was dedicated by the PDF or guerrilla forces, as nothing of their year-long historical past suggests they’d goal unusual civilians not related to the regime. Plus, they survive on the individuals’s help.

“The individuals are effectively conscious that we’ve got even aborted a few of our missions in opposition to regime targets previously for the sake of the security of civilians close by,” Civil Guerrilla Power-YGN mentioned.

The problem of who’s answerable for the assault was solely made murkier when the Individuals’s Protection Power-Yangon claimed duty in a press release on-line, whereas apologizing for the civilian casualties.

“As we speak’s bus cease blast was supposed to focus on the regime’s mechanism. We really feel sorry to be taught that there have been civilian casualties as collateral damages,” it mentioned.

Nevertheless, a better take a look at the assertion reveals some irregularities.

First, everybody aware of the neighborhood the place the bus cease is situated is aware of there are not any regime targets within the neighborhood. It’s simply one other busy downtown space stuffed with retailers and swarming with roadside distributors. No regime troopers would construct a safety checkpoint close to a busy bus cease, as it could be too dangerous for them.

Second, suspicions have been raised concerning the Individuals’s Protection Power-Yangon, which got here to public consideration in October final 12 months when it warned that dying threats had been made in opposition to the authorized crew that represents Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in courtroom. In accordance with native anti-regime outfits, Yangon solely has underground resistance teams set as much as perform guerrilla-style assaults in opposition to the regime; PDF teams are energetic largely within the countryside, the place they conduct navy operations in opposition to junta troops.

Thirdly, it’s actually unusual to see a contact telephone quantity on a press release launched by a resistance group; the apply is averted because it merely helps the junta monitor such teams down. However in its launch, the Individuals’s Protection Power-Yangon proudly shows a quantity, as if it have been a charity service. When makes an attempt have been made to name the quantity, nevertheless, it was lifeless. It needs to be famous that no contact quantity was included within the group’s warning to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s authorized crew final 12 months.

For the reason that assertion was launched on Tuesday, the group has been dismissed as a sham created by the regime to undermine the anti-regime motion. The group had made no additional remark as of Friday and, not like different resistance teams, doesn’t have a Fb web page. Its assertion was first circulated on pro-regime Fb and Telegram accounts.

“The assertion doesn’t make sense and it’s too apparent to be true, as they’ve even put a telephone quantity,” mentioned a member of the Civil Guerrilla Power-YGN.

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