Myanmar Coup
On February 01, 2021, Myanmar’s powerful military unseated the country’s democratically-elected government, triggering a wave of protests that eventually morphed into a nationwide armed uprising.
Some of the heaviest fighting between pro-democracy rebels and the Myanmar military has taken place in the remote hills of Chin state, which borders India.
From the Indian state of Mizoram, which abuts Chin, I have delivered a series of scoops, deeply-reported feature stories and multimedia pieces for Reuters.
Myanmar army defector recounts heavy losses inflicted by Chin rebels
A Myanmar army officer who defected and fled the country has detailed battlefield losses to rebels in the southern part of Chin state, with at least 50 soldiers killed and 200 badly wounded in 2021 by opposition fighters with homemade weapons.
Full story here.
A Myanmar family flees to India with no plans to return soon
For more than a decade, Mah Tial said she ran a small store in Thantlang, a town in northwest Myanmar, making enough money to send her four children to school and see her eldest daughter secure a coveted government job. Then, came the fighting.
Full story here.
In Myanmar's Chin state, a grassroots rebellion grows
More than a dozen so-called Chinland Defence Force (CDF) opposition groups have sprung up in the state, according to three of the sources, who described an expanding network of fighters whose knowledge of local terrain is a major advantage.
Full story here.
From remote part of India, Myanmar's ousted lawmakers work on challenging junta
In a spartan hillside room in India furnished only with a thin sleeping mat, the Myanmar member of parliament spends much of his days attentively listening to Zoom conference calls and tapping away messages on his smartphone.
Full story here.
The secret network helping hundreds of Myanmar police flee to India
Strung across remote mountain settlements, a secret network of activists and volunteers is helping spirit hundreds of defecting Myanmar policemen away from the military’s brutal crackdown on dissent and into relative safety in a small northeastern Indian state.
Full story here.
‘Shoot till they are dead’: Some Myanmar police say fled to India after refusing orders
When Tha Peng was ordered to shoot at protesters with his submachine gun to disperse them in the Myanmar town of Khampat on Feb. 27, the police lance corporal said he refused.