CHAMPHAI, India (Reuters) – When Tha Peng was ordered to shoot at protesters with his machine gun to disperse them to Myanmar’s Khampat city on February 27, the police corporal said he refused.
“The next day, an officer called to ask if I would shoot,” he said. The 27-year-old refused again, then resigned by 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 moving to the northeastern Indian state of Mizoram.
“I had no choice,” Tha Peng told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday, speaking through a translator. He only gave part of his name to protect his identity. Reuters saw police and national ID cards confirming the name.
Tha Peng said he and six colleagues disobeyed a February 27 order from a senior officer, whom he did not appoint.
Reuters was unable to independently verify its accounts or other accounts near the Myanmar-India border.
The description of the events was similar to that given to Mizoram police on March 1 by another Myanmar police chief and three police officers who crossed India, according to a classified internal police document seen by Reuters.
The document was written by Mizoram police officers and provides biographical details of the four individuals and their account of why they fled. It was not addressed to specific people.
“As the civil disobedience movement picks up and the protests by the anti-coup protesters in various places, we are instructed to fire on the protesters,” they said in a joint statement to Mizoram police.
“In such a scenario, we do not have the courage to shoot at our own who are peaceful protesters,” they said.
Myanmar’s military junta, which staged a coup on February 1 and fired the country’s civilian government, did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
The junta said it was acting with the utmost restraint in handling what it described as demonstrations by “revolting protesters” whom it accused of attacking police and harming national security and stability.
Tha Peng is among the first cases reported by police media 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 cracked down. More than 60 protesters were killed and more than 1,800 were detained, said the Advocacy Association for Political Prisoners, an advocacy group.
Reuters was unable to confirm the figures independently.
Among the detainees is Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who led the civilian government.
DOZENS FLEE
About 100 people in Myanmar, mostly police officers and their families, have crossed a porous border in India since the protests began, according to a senior Indian official.
Several took refuge in the Champhai district of Mizoram, which borders Myanmar, where Reuters interviewed three Myanmar nationals who said they served in the police.
In addition to his ID 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 should either be stopped with rubber bullets or shot under the knee. Reuters could not verify police policies.
But his superiors were ordered to “shoot to death,” he added.
Ngun Hlei, who said he was seconded as a police officer to the city of Mandalay, said he had also received shooting orders. He did not give a date or specify whether the order was to shoot to kill. He did not give details about any victims.
Also, the 23-year-old gave only a part of his full name and carried his national identity card.
Tha Peng and Ngun Hlei said they believed the police were acting under orders from the Myanmar army, known as Tatmadaw. They did not provide evidence.
The other four Myanmar police agreed, according to the classified police document.
“… the army has put pressure on the police forces, which are mostly police, to confront the people,” they said.
Ngun Hlei said he was reprimanded for disobeying orders and transferred. He sought help from online pro-democracy activists and found his way to the village of Vaphai al-Mizoram on March 6.
The trip to India cost him about 200,000 kyat from Myanmar ($ 143), Ngun Hlei said.
Although guarded by Indian paramilitary forces, the India-Myanmar border has a “free movement regime” that allows people to venture a few kilometers into Indian territory without requiring travel permits.
“YOU DON’T WANT TO GO BACK”
Dal, 24, said he worked as a police officer with Myanmar police in the city of Falam in northwestern Myanmar. Reuters saw a photo of her police ID and checked her name.
Her job was largely administrative, including making lists of police detainees. But as protests erupted in the wake of the coup, she said she had been instructed to try to catch a female protester – an order she refused.
Fearing imprisonment for taking part in the protesters and their civil disobedience movement, she said she decided to flee Myanmar.
All three said there was substantial support for protesters in Myanmar police forces.
“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 young daughters, one six months old.
Like others who have passed in recent days, the three are scattered around Champhai, supported by a network of local activists.
Saw Htun Win, deputy commissioner of Myanmar’s Falam district, wrote last week to Champhai’s top government official, Deputy Commissioner Maria CT Zuali, calling for the return of eight police officers who entered India “to maintain friendships” between the two neighboring countries. ”
Zuali confirmed that he had received the letter, a copy of which was seen by Reuters.
Zizoramthanga, Mizoram’s chief minister, told Reuters that his administration would provide food and temporary shelter to those fleeing Myanmar, but a decision on repatriations was pending with India’s federal government.
Tha Peng said that although he missed his family, he was afraid to return to Myanmar.
“I don’t want to go back,” he said, sitting in a first-floor room overlooking the green hills of Myanmar.
Devjyot Ghoshal Report, Reuters Additional Report; Montage by Mike Collett-White