About a hundred religious structures have been reported destroyed by the military junta in Myanmar, especially in areas where resistance to the February 2021 military is concentrated.
The Catholic news site AsiaNews reported that most of the destruction occurred in the north-west and south-east regions of the country.
“Since December, the Burmese army has intensified attacks on the predominantly Christian Chin and Kayah states and in the predominantly Buddhist regions of Sagaing and Magwe,” said the report.
It said that between February 2021 and January 2022, the military destroyed at least 35 churches and 15 other affiliated buildings in Chin aloned.
In the same period, least 12 churches were razed to the ground in Kayah state, according to the report, quoting the Karenni Human Rights Group.
The report said that military generals have repeatedly vowed that they wanted to protect places of worship, such as pagodas and monasteries, but since April last year at least 50 religious buildings were destroyed or looted.
Earlier this month, army soldiers reportedly bombed a monastery in the village of Latpandaw, in the Yinmabin district of Sagaing, killing at least six people.
In February, soldiers raided the Chin Phone village monastery and used 80 children as human shields for at least 36 hours, said the report.
It quoted a local resident saying that when the abbot of the monastery tried to negotiate with the soldiers, “they pointed a gun at him and didn’t let him out.”
According to local news outlet The Irrawaddy, the attacks on religious buildings reflect the military junta’s frustration at not being able to prevail over the anti-coup forces.
In recent weeks, clashes have concentrated in the Karen state on the border with Thailand, resulting in the displacement of thousands of civilians.
Italian missionaries belonging to the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions have recently started a “Myanmar Emergency Fund” to support the initiatives of the local Churches, many of which were founded by PIME missionaries before the expulsion of foreign missionaries in 1966.
