I defied orders to kill the protesters

MIZORAM, India (AP) – A group of police officers who defied Myanmar’s orders to shoot opponents of the coup reported their experience after fleeing to India. As they spoke, they raised a three-fingered salute – a symbol of resistance to Myanmar’s military leaders.

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

After the army coup, police were ordered to “shoot people and not just people, we were told to shoot our own family if they were not on the side of the army,” he said. The Associated Press failed to independently verify their allegations, although images and reports of repression by security forces in Myanmar showed an increase in violence against civilians.

Indian villagers in Mizoram have housed 34 police and a firefighter who have been crossing India in the past two weeks. They spoke to an AP photojournalist on condition of anonymity over fears of retaliation against family members still in Myanmar.

Back in Myanmar, the three-fingered salute, which has its origins in the Hunger Games books and movies by Suzanne Collins, is used by young protesters in massive anti-army demonstrations.

Meanwhile, K. Vanlalvena, a parliamentarian from Mizoram State, urged the Indian government not to deport refugees from Myanmar until normalcy returns there. The parliamentarian belongs to the Mizo National Front, an ally of the Bharatiya Janata party in India.

Those who escaped spend their time watching TV and doing chores. Some have carried mobile 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 he was under the command of the Myanmar army.

“We are all policemen working under the Myanmar government. We left our family in Myanmar. We do not know what is happening to our family, but they will face a lot of problems from the army. We came to Mizoram for shelter, we will die if we return there, “he said.

“We can’t reach our parents because of the telecommunications problems, but what we have heard is that they are very scared to leave their homes … I hope that one day we will meet again,” he added.

Earlier this month, Myanmar called on India to return police officers who crossed the border. India has a 1,643-kilometer (1,020-mile) border with Myanmar and hosts thousands of Myanmar refugees in various states.

Last week, Ramliana, chairman of a village council in Mizoram state, a community body, said 116 Myanmar citizens crossed the Tiau River and reached the village of Farkawn through a stretch where India’s paramilitary personnel were not present. He uses only one name.

State and federal government officials in India have not given an exact number of people in Myanmar who went to India after the coup.

Last week, India’s Interior Ministry said four Indian states bordering Myanmar – Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh – were taking 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 because 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 gaining independence from Britain in 1948. A gradual move towards democracy over the past decade has allowed Aung San Suu Kyi to lead a civilian government since 2016, although the country’s generals retained substantial power under a military constitution.

Her party won the November election last year with a landslide, but the military intervened before parliament convened on February 1, detained Suu Kyi and other government officials and instituted a state of emergency, saying the vote was affected by fraud.

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