Over 86,000 buildings torched by junta since coup: think tank

By Admin 02 Oct 2023

DMG Newsroom
2 October 2023, Sittwe

At least 86,134 buildings including houses and religious structures were damaged or destroyed in junta arson attacks since the February 2021 military coup, the Institute for Strategy and Policy Myanmar (ISP Myanmar) said in a report.

More than 64 percent of those buildings were torched last year, according to the September 29 report from ISP Myanmar. Sagaing Region was hit hardest, accounting for 72 percent of the torched structures.

“Arson attacks increased after the Myanmar military declared martial law early this year. But arson attacks have declined since junta troops were forced into defenive positions from attacking positions in some regions starting from June,” said the report.

Arson attacks on civilian homes have been reported in at least 110 townships since the coup. Magwe Region suffered from the second largest number of arson attacks after Sagaing Region. At least 14 buildings were torched in Arakan State, according to the report.

The regime has carried out arson attacks to instil fear in people, and discourage them from supporting the Spring Revolution, political analysts have postulated.

“The regime is perpetrating such kind of violence routinely,” said one such analyst, U Than Soe Naing.

The regime continues to perpetrate atrocities with complete disregard for the five-point peace plan agreed by ASEAN, critics of ongoing military rule reiterated in the wake of the ISP report.

Arakanese politician U Pe Than said: “The regime has been conducting arson attacks daily in Bamar-majority areas. I have heard about junta arson attacks and displacement of tens of thousands of people every day. This will breed resentment.”

Myanmar has been engulfed in civil war since the military seized power from a democratically elected government in a coup on February 1, 2021.