We defied orders to kill protesters

MIZORAM, India (AP) – A group of policemen who defied the Myanmar army’s orders to shoot opponents of the coup recounted their experience after they fled to India. As they spoke, they saluted with three fingers – a symbol of resistance to Myanmar’s military rulers.

“We can’t hurt our people, that’s why we came to Mizoram,” said one of the men, who came from the northwestern city of Tedim. The state of Mizoram, in northeastern India, is bordered by Bangladesh and Myanmar.

After the army coup, the police were ordered to “shoot people and not just people, we were told to shoot our own family if they were not on the army’s side,” he said. The Associated Press was unable to independently verify its allegations, although images and reports of the crackdown on security forces within Myanmar have shown an intensification of violence against civilians.

Indian villagers in Mizoram have given shelter to 34 policemen and a fireman who has crossed the border into India in the past two weeks. They spoke to an AP photojournalist on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation against family members who still live in Myanmar.

Back in Myanmar, the three-finger salute, which goes back to Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games books and films, is being used by young protesters in massive anti-army demonstrations.

Meanwhile, K. Vanlalvena, a legislator from the state of Mizoram, urged the Indian government not to deport refugees from Myanmar until normality returns there. The legislator belongs to the National Front of Mizo, an ally of the Indian ruling party Bharatiya Janata.

Those who have escaped spend their time watching television and doing household chores. Some carry cell phones and are trying to connect with families they have been forced to leave behind. At night, everyone sleeps on mattresses on the floor of a single room.

One of them told the AP that they were under the command of the Myanmar army.

“We are all policemen who work under the government of Myanmar. We left our family in Myanmar. We don’t know what’s going on with our family, but they will face many problems in the army. We came to Mizoram in search of shelter, we will die if we go back there, ”he said.

“We cannot get in touch with our parents because of telecommunication problems, but what we hear is that they are too afraid to leave the house … I hope that one day we will meet again,” he added.

Earlier this month, Myanmar asked India to return the police who crossed the border. India shares a 1,643-kilometer (1,020-mile) border with Myanmar and is home to thousands of Myanmar refugees in different states.

Last week, Ramliana, chairman of the Village Council in the state of Mizoram, a community body, said that 116 citizens of Myanmar crossed the Tiau River and reached Farkawn village on a stretch where paramilitary personnel from Assam Rifles in India were not present . He uses a name.

Indian state and federal government officials did not provide an exact number of Myanmar people who crossed into India after the coup.

Last week, India’s Interior Ministry told four Indian states bordering Myanmar – Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh – to take steps to prevent refugees from entering India, except for humanitarian reasons.

The ministry said states were not allowed to grant refugee status to anyone entering India from Myanmar, as India is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military for most of its history since it became independent from Britain in 1948. A gradual move towards democracy in the past decade has allowed Aung San Suu Kyi to lead a civilian government from 2016, although the country’s generals maintained substantial power under a constitution drafted by the military.

His party won last November’s election by an overwhelming victory, but the military intervened before Parliament met on February 1, detained Suu Kyi and other government officials and instituted a state of emergency, claiming the vote was tainted by fraud.

Verified counts show that more than 200 people have been killed by security forces in Myanmar since the coup. They used real fire and rubber bullets against the protesters and some detainees died in custody.