Irrawaddy-Jan 18
Leaked minutes from a top-level “counterterrorism” meeting led by Home Affairs Minister Lieutenant-General Soe Htut show the junta is at its wit’s end after failing to drum up public support to crush the shadow National Unity Government (NUG). The leaked document, which comes from a December meeting of the Central Committee for Counter-Terrorism, was shared online by Khit Thit Media. The meeting was joined by more than 50 senior regime officials including deputy ministers for home affairs, defense, and border affairs, senior police officers, military intelligence officials, and security and border affairs officials at the regional and state levels.
The meeting arrived at the conclusion that resistance forces known collectively as People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) had expanded beyond control, and PDF attacks are expected to intensify this year. None of the officials present at the meeting was confident the regime will be able to successfully hold the election planned in August.
The home affairs minister and his deputies expressed concern that PDFs had escalated from sneak attacks to artillery assaults using makeshift 107mm rocket launchers.
Some 75 percent of weapons and explosive material used by PDFs to attack junta targets had passed through junta security checkpoints, said the home affairs minister.
“Keep in mind that all checkpoints [where weapons] have passed through must be held responsible in the future,” Lt-Gen Soe Htut warned. Generals present expressed consternation that Myanmar people as well as the international community were supporting the NUG and PDF, whom they consider to be terrorists. “They can commit terrorist acts because they are favored by the international community for being elected [in the 2020 general election]. They also have an upper hand in media warfare,” said deputy home affairs minister Major General Zin Min Htet, who is also the police chief. Lt-Gen Soe Htut, a former military intelligence chief, lamented that the military had failed to extract information from the people about the NUG, its parliamentary body the CRPH, and the PDF. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-junta-leaked-memo-shows-resistance-growing-beyond-control.html
