Myanmars National Unity Government commemorated the 76th Martyrs Day on Wednesday by honoring Independence hero General Aung San and eight colleagues assassinated 76 years ago today, as well as fallen heroes of the ongoing anti-regime Spring Revolution.

I would like to pay my respects to all the martyrs who sacrificed their lives to free the country and the people from colonialism, NUG Acting President Duwa Lashi La said in his memorial speech at a virtual ceremony commemorating Martyrs Day.

He also reminded people to honor the many forgotten heroes, including ethnic martyrs whose heroism has been obscured in official history and those who paid with their lives to ensure the struggle for democracy can continue.

We need to remember that in addition to the great martyr leaders who worked hard to get out from under colonial rule, there are also many martyrs who sacrificed to get out from under the current military dictatorship, Duwa Lashi La said.

Family members of martyrs also spoke at the memorial. They included Kim Aris (also known as Ko Htein Lin), a grandchild of General Aung San and son of detained leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, NUG Prime Minister Mahn Win Khaing Than, a grandchild of martyr Mahn Ba Khaing, U Myat Htoo Razak, a grandson of martyr U Razak, and Dr Sein Win, a son of martyr U Ba Win.

All the martyrs will be proud and support all the ethnic people who are still fighting for freedom, U Myat Htoo Razak said in a video speech at the memorial.

The ceremony drew cabinet members, union, state and regional parliamentarians, members of Chin, Mon, Karenni state national consultative councils, representatives of political parties, and guests from foreign embassies and organizations, according to the NUG.

Various brigades of its armed wing, the Peoples Defense Forces (PDFs), also marked Martyrs Day by holding commemorative ceremonies and paying tribute to the fallen heroes.

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The Myanmar junta barred jailed popular leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from attending Wednesdays commemoration of Martyrs Day, which honors of her fatherassassinated independence hero General Aung Sanand his slain colleagues, while continuing to deny the event state-level status, a policy it revived from previous regimes.

Martyrs Day marks an important event on the Myanmar calendar, commemorating the assassinations of Gen. Aung San and eight colleagues on July 19, 1947.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has not been allowed to mark the annual event since the military seized power in a coup in February 2021. Nor has junta boss Min Aung Hlaing attended the Martyrs Day commemoration. Last years event was attended by deputy junta chief Soe Win. But this year, the regime downgraded the event, sending only Deputy Prime Minister and Transportation Minister Tin Aung San to attend.

Under the National League for Democracy government, Martyrs Day was celebrated as a national event attended by the head of state. Min Aung Hlaing and then Vice-President Myint Swe (who has been serving as acting president of the regime) joined Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and then President U Win Myint at the annual ceremony from 2016 to 2020.

The NLD revived Martyrs Day as a state-level event in 2016 after winning the general election the previous year. Min Aung Hlaing attended, becoming the first army chief to join the annual ceremony since the student-led uprisings of 1988.

The first Martyrs Day event after the coup was attended by the juntas religious affairs and culture minister. By sending a relatively minor official, the regime downgraded the event, just as its predecessors, the State Law and Order Restoration Council and the State Peace and Development Council, had done.

At the 2021 and 2022 events, a member of the committee for organizing Martyrs Day and a department head of the Yangon City Development Committee laid wreaths at the Martyrs Mausoleum in Yangon for Gen. Aung San on behalf of his family members.

Under former military dictator Than Shwe, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was allowed to attend the Martyrs Day ceremonies though the event was downgraded from state level and only attended by the Yangon mayor or the culture minister.

Though Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was not allowed to attend this years event, her elder brother, 80-year-old U Aung San Oo, was present.

While Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was behind bars in Naypyitaw Prison, Myanmars junta-controlled Supreme Court in August last year approved the sale of her family home in Yangon, accepting a petition from her older brother U Aung San Oo to sell the house.

The lakeside villa in Yangon was the source of a bitter family dispute between the siblings for decades. In 2000, U Aung San...

Myanmars military regime has launched a disinformation campaign to sow division between detained leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the resistance movement, distributing leaflets claiming that she does not support the movement.

Locals in Thabeikkyin and Amarapura townships in Mandalay Region, upper Myanmar, said soldiers and police distributed the leaflets to passersby early this week.

The Irrawaddy has viewed the leaflets, which feature a photo collage of Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under the heading Thai foreign minister reveals at ASEAN foreign ministers retreat that he met with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

The pictures are accompanied by highlighted text that reads: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has categorically rejected NUG and CRPH members who have used violent means to kill people while ignoring her political stand of nonviolence.

NUG is the acronym for Myanmars civilian shadow National Unity Government (NUG) while CRPH refers to the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, the NUGs parliamentary wing. Both bodies were formed with elected lawmakers from Aung San Suu Kyis National League for Democracy (NLD) party and ethnic allies in the wake of the 2021 military coup, to root out the regime politically. The NUGs Peoples Defense Force (PDF) armed wing has now been fighting junta forces for more than two years. Among M...

Farmers in Ayeyarwady Region are being threatened with jail and land seizures if they fail to repay loans granted by the ousted civilian government by November, sources in the region say.

Teams comprising township and village administrators, officials from the Myanma Agricultural Development Bank, soldiers and police have been visiting villages in Kyonepyaw and Bogale townships to instruct farmers to repay loans.

A farmer in Bogale said farmers in the township cannot afford to repay loans and are worried their farmland will be confiscated.

Some farmers have not been able to repay loans for years. With the interest, the amount of the loan must have doubled, he told The Irrawaddy.   There has been intense pressure on us. They said we will be sued and imprisoned if we fail to fully pay back the loans by November. Around 75 percent of farmers in this area cant repay the loans, he explained.

The agricultural loans were provided by the Myanma Agricultural Development Bank when the National League for Democracy was in power. Farmers were loaned 150,000 kyats per acre.

Some farmers are selling pieces of their land to repay the loans and others are borrowing from informal lenders at high interest rates, the farmer said.

A rice merchant in Kyonepyaw Township said that junta personnel have been asking farmers to repay their loans since last month in our township. People will try to pay back the loan as the regime has threatened them with imprisonment.

Rice prices are high this year, but farmers are not benefitting because of inflation, the high costs of pesticide and fertilizer, and high labor costs.

At a recent meeting in Naypyitaw, junta boss Min Aung Hlaing said farmers should get better access to quality seeds, natural and chemical fertilizers, and irrigation.

Myanmars junta suffered heavy losses during three days of resistance ambushes in Taze Township, Sagaing Region, according to rebel groups.

The groups attacked around 112 troops from July 14 to 17 while traveling between Taze town and Kaduma village in the west of the township, according to Taze News, a revolutionary media site which monitors junta atrocities.

Sniper rifles and landmines were used to ambush troops on a bridge at an irrigation channel last Friday while they were traveling from Taze to Kadumas police station.

At least six regime troops were killed or injured, the groups said. The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.

Another heavy shootout broke out on Saturday when resistance groups ambushed the troops, saying they killed more than 10 and injured many others.

The junta used a Mi-35 helicopter to attack the resistance forces, said Taze Peoples Defense Force that coordinated the attacks.

A resistance member was killed and two were injured.

Resistance groups attacked troops with explosives at Kaduma police station for two nights, said Taze News.

A clash broke out near a monastery on Monday when resistance groups attacked troops returning to Taze from Kaduma.

The Guerilla Warfare group said it used landmines and 80mm mortars to attack regime forces.

It said 10 more junta troops were killed and many others injured, while three resistance fighters were wounded.

The first armed resistance started in Taze in early April 2021 when residents started using traditional hunting rifles and air guns to prevent trucks carrying junta troops from entering the town and dispersing anti-coup demonstrations.

Since then, frequent clashes have occurred in the township.

As of July 11, junta forces had burned and destroyed 4,049 houses during raids on 69 villages in the township, according to Taze News.

Junta fighter jets bombed a village in Chin States Kanpetlet Township on Tuesday morning after a junta convoy heading to Kyin Dwe town in Kanpetlet was ambushed on the border with neighboring Magwe Region, according to the Chinland Defense Force (CDF-Kanpetlet).

The convoy is part of junta preparations for a major offensive in Chin State, said resistance forces.

Some 10 houses and a church in Masatwi village were damaged in Tuesdays bombing raid. The number of civilian casualties is still unknown, CDF-Kanpetlet liaison officer Salai Than Shwe said.

They dropped around 20 bombs. We still cant confirm civilian casualties. We are only able to confirm property damage. I heard that junta troops suffered heavy casualties. One resistance fighter was wounded, Salai Than Shwe told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.

Military tensions in the area remain high, he added.

The junta convoy of around 27 vehicles including two armored vehicles, soldiers, weapons and food supplies left Laungshey town in Magwe Region on July 13 and is thought to be heading to the juntas base in Kyin Dwe.

The convoy is transporting around 300 junta soldiers from the 88th Light Infantry Division. Resistance forces have been clashing with the convoys vanguard along the road.

The regime has been conducting artillery and air attacks along the Laungshey-Kyin Dwe road since the convoy left Magwe.

A 12-year-old child was killed and a man injured when the junta shelled Yinke village, Saw Township, during an attack by its ground troops on July 14, according to local media outlet Yaw Alin Tan. Nearly all of Yinkes 300 houses, which are located along the Laungshey-Kyin Dwe road, were torched in the attack. Around 2,000 residents of Yinke and two neighboring villages fled their homes.

The regime also conducted an air strike against Swel Lwel Kyin village amid fighting on July 15, according to local resistance forces.

Junta troops have been pinned down between Swel Lel Kyin and Masatwi villages on the border of Chin State and Magwe Region, said resistance groups.

The daily clashes have resulted in casualties on both sides, but neither has released casualty figures. Resistance groups have warned locals against traveling on the Laungshey-Kyin Dwe road.

A separate junta column consisting of around 150 soldiers from Kyaukhtu town has also arrived in Saw Township. This column is thought to be heading to Kanpetlet, said Salai Than Shwe.

The regime is apparently preparing for a massive offensive in Chin. It has been a while since they last attacked here. But large numbers of troops are heading here now. We will do what it takes to protect the people, he said.

Thailands Constitutional Court suspended reformist Pita Limjaroenrat on Wednesday, in another blow to his hopes of becoming the nations next leader after a stunning election win.

The court issued its suspension just as Pita was sitting in parliament for another day of deliberations on whether he could become prime minister, after his first attempt fell 51 votes short last week.

Pitas Move Forward Party (MFP) has ridden high on the hopes of young and urban Thais wearied by nearly a decade of army-backed rule, but its efforts to form a government have stumbled since the May polls.

Thailands conservative establishment vehemently opposes the partys economic reform platform and its pledge to soften the kingdoms strict royal defamation laws.

On Wednesday, the countrys Constitutional Court announced it would take up a case on whether Pita should be disqualified from parliament altogether for owning shares in a media company, ordering him to leave the assembly in the meantime.

It was commanded that the respondent must suspend his role from July 19, until the Constitutional Court has made its decision, the court said in a statement.

Lawmakers are forbidden from owning shares in media companies under Thailands constitution, though the television station in question has not broadcast since 2007.

Pita, Harvard-educated and wealthy from a family-run agrifood business, has said the shares were inherited from his father.

Under Thai law, Pita remains eligible to stand as a candidate for prime minister but must leave the lower house and will be unable to vote.

If you vote according to the voice of the people, your name will be engraved in this kingdom with great honor and pride, he said on Twitter in the morning, in a last-ditch call for support.

Few expect his party to have made up last weeks shortfall, and lawmakers aligned with the military immediately forced a debate on whether the law allowed Pita to be considered a second time.

Thailands senate is stacked with military appointees, with only 13 of 249 serving senators voting for Pita last week, and his only likely path to power is to successfully court many more members of that chamber.

I dont think the senate is going to be brave and courageous enough to do that, Napisa Waitoolkiat, a political analyst with Naresuan University, told AFP.

Pita remained in the chamber immediately after the suspension was issued. He has vowed to step aside to make way for a coalition partner to form a government if his second attempt fails.

Personal benefits

Other roadblocks have been thrown in front of Pitas candidacy.

The court has also agreed to hear a case alleging that MFPs campaign promise to amend Thailands royal defamation law is tantamount to a plan to over...

At least 115 Myanmar junta forces as well as five resistance members and three civilians were killed in multiple incidents over the past four days as Peoples Defense Force groups (PDFs) and an ethnic armed organization (EAO) continued to attack regime targets across the country.

The incidents were reported in Magwe, Sagaing and Bago regions and Mon and Karen states.

The Irrawaddy has collected the following reports of significant attacks from the PDFs and the EAO.

Some military casualties could not be independently verified.

Junta suffers heavy losses in resistance ambushes in Magwe

The Defense Ministry of the civilian National Unity Government (NUG), the PDFs political wing, claimed that at least 80 regime troops were killed in Saw Township, Magwe Region when its PDF groups ambushed a military convoy over two days.

First, several PDF battalions from Gangaw, Magwe and Minbu districts jointly used triggered land mines to ambush the military convoy traveling from Saw Townships Laungshe town to Kyindway town in Kanpetlet Township, Chin State on Sunday, killing 50 soldiers.

After the ambush, two junta fighter jets bombed the resistance forces. Regime forces transported the injured soldiers and the bodies of those killed to Laungshe.

On Tuesday, the resistance groups continued to ambush the military convoy from close range using improvised rocket bombs, killing 30 more regime forces, the NUGs Defense Ministry claimed.

The Irrawaddy was unable to independently confirm the reports.

Five resistance fighters were also killed in the two days of incidents.

Junta base attacked, military vehicle ambushed in Magwe

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The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners says 37 inmates have gone missing since June 27, claiming it suggests the junta is dismantling.

Political prisoners are reportedly being killed by Myanmars junta during supposed prison transfers.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) reported that 37 political prisoners from Daik-U Prison also known as Kyaiksakaw in Bago Region have been missing since June 27 after supposed transfers.

An unnamed AAPP representative recently talked to The Irrawaddy about these so-called prison transfers.

Please tell us about the prison transfers that have reportedly resulted in the deaths of inmates.

In the latest case, seven prisoners were removed from Daik-U Prison for alleged transfer.

The prison authorities informed families that three were shot dead while attempting to escape during the transfers.

The other families have heard nothing and the prison refuses to answer questions.

Similar cases have been reported at Myingyan and Thayawady prisons. One Myingyan prisoner died during interrogation. The regime claimed that suspects at an interrogation camp in Yangon were killed while trying to escape.

It was just an excuse because the regime killed them due to a grudge.

There are continuous reports of political prisoners being tortured. At Thayawady, they were shackled for at least two months. The reports of torture have worsened this year.

Why has the situation got worse?

The regime is failing in every field and it takes its anger and frustration out on political prisoners. Prisoners are like meat on the chopping board. The regime can do whatever it wants to do them and we can do nothing to help.

It is similar to Nazis killing Jews in gas chambers during World War II. The regime is behaving like the Nazis.

Please tell us about the missing political prisoners.

We still dont know about the prisoners that were taken out of Daik-U. Families arriving with food were told that the prisoners had been removed but they didnt say where they were taken.

Prison visits were banned during Covid and they remained banned after regulations were relaxed. The regime is doing whatever it wants to the political prisoners who are cut off from the outside world.

What is your response to the killing of two detainees suspected of killing Buddhist nationalist Lily Naing Kyaw? The regime said they were shot while trying to escape....

An estimated 500 civilians are reported to have been trapped in Ywar Thit town, Bawlakhe Township, since regime troops blocked off the town on June 27.

At least 500 civilians reportedly remain trapped in Ywar Thit town in Bawlakhe Township in the resistance stronghold of Kayah State after it was seized by junta troops on June 27.

Communication has been cut off and residents are forbidden from leaving the town, according to the Karenni Human Rights Group.

The town has been under the control of junta infantry since June 27. No one is allowed to go in or out of the town, a representative of the group said.

At least six people had been shot dead by junta forces since June 27, according to the rights group.

Most residents are taking refuge in a monastery.

Fighting could resume at any time and the remaining civilians are in danger, a volunteer said.

Ywar Thit had around 800 households and about 1,500 residents. Three nearby villages have emptied since last month.

Around 350 junta troops are stationed at Ywar Thit, a strategic town transporting military supplies to junta outposts near the Thai border.

There are reports of skirmishes near the town.

The Progressive Karenni People Force reported that around 27 people were killed by junta troops during a raid on Moebye town in southern Shan State on the Kayah State border.

At least 365 civilians have been killed in Kayah State since the 2021 coup, where civilians are frequently targeted by indiscriminate junta shelling and airstrikes, according to the resistance group.

The United Nations estimated that at least 96,000 people had been displaced in Kayah State by mid-June of a population of around 300,000.

However, aid groups on the ground reported that more than 270,000 people have been displaced in the state and neighbouring Pekon Township in southern Shan State.

Around 100,000 people are in need of urgent food supplies and healthcare assistance, according to aid groups.

Three resistance groups joined forces with the Karen National Unions armed wing to target a junta outpost, troops and offices in six days of attacks.

Regime seeking backdoor to international trade and much-needed revenue after US restricts financial access.

Thousands of residents of Ta Kan Thar and other villages in Shwebo Township have been forced to flee since Mondays air strike, which followed raids by ground troops.

Pita Limjaroenrat said the eight-party coalition supporting him had agreed to renominate him for a second vote Wednesday.

Min Aung Hlaings giant marble Maravijaya Buddha in the capital is due to be consecrated on August 1.

Rights group urges Malaysia to prioritize the investigation of the family's July 4 abduction, saying they are at grave risk.

Regime retaliates after ASEAN foreign ministers release statement calling for end to atrocities being committed mainly by the junta's military.

A Kachin Independence Army spokesman and a political analyst say the regime is seeking to quell resistance and regain control of trade routes to China.

Two bombs injured eight civilians, including two chldren, in Shwebo town, with pro-junta sources blaming resistance groups.

Karen National Union chairman says the junta has no interest in creating a peaceful and democratic federal union.

Military forces shelled civilian targets including a school sheltering IDPs and looted villages during the raids in Khin-U Township.

As Pita Limjaroenrats case shows, Thai elections are a smokescreen; the military, monarchy, judiciary and bureaucracy continue to call the shots.

The spread of enterprises run by Macau triad boss Wan Kuok Koi and his associates in Myanmar is illustrative of the criminalization of the country under the junta.