The investigation into clashes last month between jade scavengers and Myanmar security forces in Nansipon, Sagaing Region, last month has been delayed after the head of the investigation commission failed to show up for work. Locals say the delays are intentional.
The commission was appointed by the Sagaing Region government on May 19 after hundreds of itinerant scavengers rioted and broke into a military-owned jade mine two days earlier. The clash ended with four scavengers shot dead by security forces, 11 injured, and 38 fuel tanks destroyed.
A report on the riot was initially set to be due on May 31, but the date has been pushed to June 10 after commission chair Police Colonel Kyaw Kyaw Htun failed to appear.
Hkamti District general administrator U Zaw Zaw told the Myanmar Times the reason for the officer’s absence was that he was transferred to a police training school in Zeepingyi Township.
However, locals believe the police are rigging the investigation by delaying it until scavengers have been removed from the area.
Local jade scavenger Min Thein Naing told Eleven: “I heard the chairman was late, and the deadline for the report was put off to a later date. Section 143 of the Penal Code [outlawing assembly] was declared in Nansipon, and all the scavengers were ordered to leave the area by May 30. When the investigation commission arrives at Nansipon, there will be no scavengers to answer its questions.”
MP Maung Tay from Hkamti Township said: “I suspect they are procrastinating on purpose. We will take at least three days to conduct a thorough investigation in Nansipon. But we can’t do anything without the chairman.”
The MP also said the accounts of hospitalized jade scavengers contradicted police reports about the May 17 clash. Police reports put the death toll at three, while local and international media have reported that four scavengers were killed.
Regional Police Major Tin Win has been appointed to lead the commission.
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