CHAMPHAI, India (Reuters) – When Tha Peng was ordered to shoot protesters with his submachine gun to disperse them in Myanmar’s Khampat city on February 27, the police corporal said he refused.
“The next day, a policeman called me to ask if I would shoot,” he said. The 27-year-old again refused and resigned from the police force.
On March 1, he said he left his home and family behind in Khampat and traveled for three days, mostly at night to avoid detection, before crossing to the state of Mizoram in northeastern India.
“I had no choice,” Tha Peng told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday through a translator. He gave only part of his name to protect his identity. Reuters saw its police and national identity cards that confirmed the name.
Tha Peng said that he and six colleagues disobeyed the order of February 27 from a senior officer, whose name he did not disclose.
Reuters was unable to independently verify its accounts or others gathered near the Myanmar-India border.
The description of the events was similar to the one provided to the police in Mizoram on March 1 by another cable from the Myanmar police and three policemen who crossed the border into India, according to a confidential internal police document seen by Reuters.
The document was written by police officers from Mizoram and provides biographical details of the four individuals and their account of the reason for the escape. It was not aimed at specific people.
“As the civil disobedience movement is gaining momentum and protests by anti-coup protesters in different places, we are instructed to shoot the protesters,” they said in a joint statement to the Mizoram police.
“In this scenario, we do not have the courage to shoot our own people, who are a peaceful protester,” they said.
Myanmar’s military junta, which struck a coup on February 1 and ousted the country’s civilian government, did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
The board said it was acting with the greatest of moderation in dealing with what it described as “rebel demonstrators” demonstrations, whom it accused of attacking the police and undermining national security and stability.
Tha Peng’s is among the first media reports of police fleeing Myanmar after disobeying orders from the military junta’s security forces.
Daily protests against the coup are being held across the country and security forces have been cracked down. More than 60 protesters were killed and more than 1,800 detainees, said the Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners, a defense group.
Reuters was unable to independently confirm the figures.
Among the detainees is Nobel winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who led the civilian government.
DOZENS FLEE
About 100 Myanmar people, most of them police and their families, have crossed a porous border with India since the protests began, according to a senior Indian official.
Several took shelter in the Champhai district of Mizoram, on the border with Myanmar, where Reuters interviewed three Myanmar citizens who said they had served in the police.
In addition to his identity cards, Tha Peng showed an undated photo of him wearing a Myanmar police uniform. He said he joined the force nine years ago.
Tha Peng said that, according to police rules, protesters must be stopped by rubber bullets or shot below the knees. Reuters was unable to verify police policies.
But he was ordered by his superiors to “shoot until they die,” he added.
Ngun Hlei, who said he was seconded as a police officer in the city of Mandalay, said he was also ordered to shoot. He did not give a date, nor did he specify whether the order was to shoot to kill. He did not give details about the victims.
The 23-year-old also provided only part of his full name and carried his national identity card.
Tha Peng and Ngun Hlei said they believed the police were acting on the orders of the Myanmar military, known as Tatmadaw. They did not provide evidence.
The other four Myanmar police officers agreed, according to the confidential police document.
“… the military pressured the police force, composed mainly of policemen, to confront the people,” they said.
Ngun Hlei said he was reprimanded for disobeying orders and transferred. He sought help from pro-democracy activists online and found his way down the road to the Vaphai village of Mizoram on March 6.
The trip to India cost about 200,000 kyat from Myanmar ($ 143), said Ngun Hlei.
Although guarded by Indian paramilitary forces, the India-Myanmar border has a “free movement regime” that allows people to venture a few kilometers across Indian territory without the need for travel permits.
‘I DO NOT WANT TO GO BACK’
Dal, 24, said he worked as a police officer in the Myanmar police in the mountain town of Falam in northwestern Myanmar. Reuters saw a photo of his police identity and verified the name.
His work was mainly administrative, including making lists of people detained by the police. But as protests escalated after the coup, she said she was instructed to try to catch protesters – an order she refused.
Fearing being arrested for supporting the protesters and their civil disobedience movement, she said she decided to flee Myanmar.
All three said there was substantial support for protesters within the Myanmar police force.
“Inside the police station, 90% support the protesters, but there is no leader to unite them,” said Tha Peng, who left behind his wife and two daughters, a six-month-old.
Like some others who have passed in the past few days, the three are spread across Champhai, supported by a network of local activists.
Saw Htun Win, deputy commissioner for the Falam district of Myanmar, wrote last week to the top official of the Champhai government, deputy commissioner Maria CT Zuali, asking that eight police officers who had entered India be returned to them “to friendly relations between the two neighboring countries. “
Zuali confirmed that he had received the letter, a copy of which was seen by Reuters.
Zoramthanga, Mizoram’s chief minister, told Reuters his government would provide temporary food and shelter for those fleeing Myanmar, but a decision on repatriations was pending with the federal government of India.
Tha Peng said that although he missed his family, he feared returning to Myanmar.
“I don’t want to go back,” he said, sitting in a room on the first floor overlooking the green hills that stretch into Myanmar.
Reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal, additional reporting by the Reuters team; Mike Collett-White edition