Junta troops have been raiding villages near Mann Shwesettaw Pagoda in Magwe Region’s Minbu Township since last month as the regime prepares for the annual festival there that lasts from February to April.
Junta soldiers and police have massed near the popular pilgrimage site, and around 150 of them have been raiding nearby villages since Jan. 10.
In one raid they burned 37 houses in Oh Pyin Mel village to the ground.
The Mann Shwesettaw Pagoda is a 30-minute drive from Padan, which has come within the sights of the ethnic Arakan Army (AA) from neighboring Rakhine State since it captured Ann town and the junta’s Western Command Headquarters on the border, resulting in clashes on the Ann-Padan road in the Arakan Mountains.
“The regime wants to open the pagoda, so they are raiding villages,” said Minbu District People’s Defense Force spokesman Ko Anyar Thar.
During the arson raid on Oh Pyin Mel village on Dec. 22, one sick man who was left behind starved to death. Junta soldiers also looted houses and stole ambulances from a village monastery, residents said.
The annual festival, which attracts large crowds in peacetime, starts on Feb. 2 this year, junta media said, with around 400 food stalls and 800 lodging huts being set up. A nearby elephant camp on the idyllic banks of Mann Creek provides another draw.
Despite the ongoing clashes in the area, an organizing committee member said he expects the usual crowds this year.
“It’s the biggest pagoda festival in Minbu, attracting visitors from all over the country, and it’s also a sacred site for Buddhists,” a Minbu resident said. “The festival draws huge crowds because there are several other pilgrimage sites in the area, like Mya Thalun Pagoda in Magwe. But the number of pilgrims has declined due to the political situation.”
The regime has pledged to bolster security at the pagoda and roads leading to it, but the Minbu People’s Defense Force recently issued a warning against traveling there.
