It Was Revealed That The Myanmar Military Internal Memo Ordered Its Troops To Kill Protesters

JAKARTA - The ASEAN Leaders Meeting (ALM) which was held in Jakarta, Saturday, April 24 agreed to call for an end to violence in Myanmar and to free political prisoners.

Data from the Political Prisoners Assistance Association until April 23, the death toll has reached 745 people, 3,371 people have been detained and 1,118 people have been released.

The number of fatalities and those detained have the potential to continue to grow, along with the circulation of internal memos issued by the Myanmar military regime.

"You have to exterminate them when you confront them, because 'rioters (military euphemism for anti-regime protesters) have moved from peaceful demonstrations to levels of armed conflict. Officers at all levels must strictly follow these instructions", read the instructions dated April 11, as reported by The Irrawaddy, Saturday, April 24.

The order was retroactive support for the massacre of 82 people just two days earlier in Bago, a city north of Yangon, where soldiers and police fired live ammunition into protesters and used rifle grenades to destroy roadblocks fortified with sandbags.

Two days later, on April 14, another memo was distributed. It read, "All emergency security forces must be fully and systematically armed as rioting could spread to your area of control", refers to ongoing protests in every city in the Sagaing, Mandalay, Yangon Bago regions, and in Mon State.

Since the February 1 coup, Myanmar's military leaders have come under fire from home and abroad for committing atrocities against their own citizens.

To note, before the two memos were issued, the death toll from February to April 9 had reached 614. The regime claims the use of force against protesters is justified to stop the so-called rioting.

The Myanmar military regime is known to recall a number of their formidable military commanders on the battlefield, to quell protests in cities in Myanmar.

Among those recalled was Senior Deputy General Soe Win and deputy interior minister Lt. Gen. Than Hlaing. Both played a key role in the military regime's strategy for dealing with protesters. Both are now on the EU and US sanctions lists.

To ensure that military officers and their families do not falter and defect, the military regime prohibits them from listening to foreign and local media that criticize them. Twice a week the regime socialized if the news circulated as lies.

Myanmar Coup. The VOI editorial team continues to monitor the political situation in one of the ASEAN member countries. Casualties from civilians continue to fall. Readers can follow the news surrounding the Myanmar military coup by tapping on this link.