By DPA
New York : Attacks and destruction carried out by Myanmar’s armed forces on ethnic minority villages have displaced up to 500,000 people, Human Rights Watch said.
“The Burmese army continues to destroy civilian villages in its counter-insurgency operations,” the New York-based group said in a report that cited surveys by non-governmental organizations like the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC).
“It often uses depopulated areas for military-controlled business concessions and infrastructure projects such as gold mines and hydro-electric dams, three of which are planned close by on the Salween River, near the Thai border,” the report published Thursday said.
TBBC said up to 500,000 people were displaced by attacks and destruction of their villages in eastern Myanmar, the former Burma. The group also surveyed displaced people in the southeastern state of Shan.
Human Rights Watch said it received reports of “serious abuses” by the country’s armed forces in July in Karen state, which displaced tens of thousands of people. Some of the displaced moved across the border into Thailand to refugee camps that already house 150,000 from Myanmar.
Reports of the displaced were made before the start of popular demonstrations in Yangon in mid-August after the government sharply increased prices of gasoline. The protests spread to involve large mass of population in the capital and were led by Buddhist monks until the military crackdown in September.