Karen groups document Burma Army atrocities as junta chief wins Modi's embrace

By A Representative 

Karen human rights and community organisations have presented comprehensive evidence of continuing military atrocities against civilians in Burma, pushing back sharply against the junta's efforts to portray a return to political normalcy — a narrative that recently received a boost when Myanmar's military-backed president was welcomed in New Delhi.

The documentation came at the online forum "What's Happening in Burma: Karen Perspectives on the Burma Situation," organised by the International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL) and the International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS) on March 26, 2026. The event brought together participants from multiple countries to hear testimonies from organisations working on the ground in Karen territories.

The forum's findings stand in stark contrast to the diplomatic legitimacy extended to the junta just weeks later, when Myanmar President U Min Aung Hlaing — the same general who led the 2021 coup — visited India from May 30 to June 3 and held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 1  (ABC News) . Critics and human rights groups said the visit risked lending legitimacy to the military-backed government.  (The Manila Times) India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri defended the engagement, saying India's policy was "not intended to be a commentary on the internal political arrangements" in Myanmar.  (ABC News)

The Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), presenting at the forum, offered a detailed account of what those "internal arrangements" mean for ordinary civilians. The organisation documented that throughout 2025, Burma Army airstrikes killed at least 66 villagers, including 18 children, and injured 176 others, including 66 children, across Karen areas and other parts of Southeast Burma. Entire communities were forced to flee as bombs struck villages, schools, farms, clinics, monasteries, and churches.

KHRG noted that many attacks occurred in areas where no active fighting was taking place. In one documented incident in Dooplaya District, Burma Army forces fired 120 mm mortar shells into a village despite the absence of armed groups or ongoing clashes. The attack injured a 19-year-old villager, destroyed his home, damaged three neighbouring houses, and sent residents sheltering in a local monastery.

From January to June 2025 alone, KHRG documented attacks on schools, religious buildings, clinics, and community gatherings that killed at least 16 civilians — including women and children — and injured at least 70 others. Religious leaders, healthcare workers, and community volunteers were among those harmed. "The destruction of schools, clinics, churches, and monasteries is not simply physical damage. Their destruction undermines education, healthcare, culture, and the social fabric that communities rely upon for survival," KHRG stated.

The Karen Peace Support Network (KPSN) situated the crisis within Burma's longer history of military domination, arguing that the junta's administrative changes — the dissolution of the State Administration Council, the lifting of the state of emergency, and the holding of special elections in December 2025 — amounted to political rebranding rather than genuine reform. Armed conflict, the organisation said, continues across large parts of the country, with Karen communities among those most heavily impacted by military offensives and restrictions on humanitarian access.

KPSN warned that the military's strategy had "increasingly shifted toward attacking civilian communities as resistance forces gain ground in many areas," resulting in widespread displacement, deepening humanitarian needs, and growing insecurity for ordinary people. The organisation also drew attention to the junta's enforcement of conscription, which it said was forcing young people into impossible choices: joining the military, fleeing across borders, going into hiding, or joining resistance movements — with long-term social and economic consequences for entire communities.

Both organisations called for stronger international sanctions against the military regime, support for accountability mechanisms, and increased humanitarian assistance channelled through trusted local organisations rather than through structures that risk legitimising military control. "The figures documented throughout 2025 demonstrate that military violence against civilians remains systematic and widespread. There can be no genuine peace, democracy, or stability while communities continue to face airstrikes, displacement, and repression," they said.

The webinar closed with a renewed call for international solidarity with the Karen people and all oppressed nationalities in Burma continuing their struggle for self-determination and lasting peace.