Despite threats Kachin family maintains Tatmadaw killed daughter

During a press conference in Rangoon last Saturday the father of Ja Seng Ing, a slain 14-year-old Kachin student from western Kachin's state Hpakant township, called on the Thein Sein government to immediately form a commission to investigate the 13th September 2012 shooting death of his daughter.

"We demand an investigation into what happened to my daughter” said Brang Shawng. He alleges that a Burma army soldier shot and killed his daughter while she was walking unarmed in her village of Sut Ngai Yang.

Ja Seng Ing was walking with her teacher Nang San and four other school girls when they heard gun shots and then went to hide, according to those who were with her. They were then summonsed out of their hiding place by army soldiers and while they were following the commands of the soldiers Ja Seng Ing was shot dead by a soldier, the eyewitnesses allege.

In October 2012 several weeks after the incident Brang Shawng wrote letters to the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission, President Thein Sein and National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi who serves as the chairman of Rule of Law and Peace and Stability Committee.

Brang Shawng did not receive a formal response from any of the letters.  But the military instead moved to sue him for what they alleged was his misrepresenting what took place in his village where troops from Light Infantry Battalion 389 were stationed.

The army's lawsuit against Brang Shawng was filled by Burma army Major Zar Ni Lynn Pike, in Hpakant township court. Brang Shawng was charged and then released on bail while the case has continued in local court.

Brang Shawng says that since 2013 Major Zar Ni Lynn Pike has repeatedly failed to appear in court and defied summons from the township court.

Brang Shawng has heard that the major in question was transferred to Pakokku township in lower Burma but a fellow officer informed the Hpakant township court that the major is not serving there either. “Now no one knows where he is and where he is serving”, Brang Shawng said.

Brang Shawng will make a 45th court appearance in Hpakant on 15th December.