He was 45 but he had been a monk for only
two years. A son of U Mya Yin and Daw Ei from Done-gone Village near the town
of Thedaw. When he was very young he became a novice training to become a monk
and he studied up to first grade junior monk (Pa-hta-ma-dan-nge) at
Mya-hnin-zee Teaching Monastery in Thedaw Town.
He has an ex-wife and one son and one
daughter. He’d been a monk at his friend U Pannisa’s monastery for over two
years and on that fateful day of 20 March 2013 at about 4:30 in the afternoon
he came to Meikhtilar to buy some children Buddhism books.
He’d been teaching basic Buddhism to
the village children and by then his class had more than 200 Burmese boys and
girls but he had only 130 text books (Thirty-eight-Mingalas books). So he came into Meikhtilar that late
afternoon for an emergency shopping trip for his class as soon as the class was
over for that day.
Bad Day to Come to Meikhtilar for a very visible Buddhist Monk
He was pillion riding on the motorbike
of his trusted man Tin Maung Win (a) Kalar from his village. Forty-year-old Tin
Maung Win and his wife Than Than Moe are weavers and farmers. Tin Maung Win’s
four-year-old daughter Na-di-win was also in U Thawbita’s Buddhism class and
wherever the monk went he always used Tin Maung Win’s bike.
They both didn’t know that a race-riot
was brewing between Muslims and Buddhists in Meikhtilar that day, and they were
just very eager to get to Kyaw Zaw Lin’s shop in the West Row of Meikhtilar’s
main bazaar to buy the much needed children-Buddhism-books.
U Thawbita normally rode motorbike sideways
(side-saddle) like Burmese monks normally do for modesty but that day he was
riding astride on the pillion seat since Meikhtilar was a long trip even on a
motorbike.
By about 5 they reached Meikhtilar and soon they saw a large mob of angry Muslim Kalars armed with swords and iron rods gathering on both sides of the main road just before the traffic light by Taw Win Nan restaurant.
“Doesn’t look too good, let’s turn back,” said fearful Tin
Maung Win to U Thawbita. But U Thawbita wasn’t so concerned. “Maybe they’re fighting each other, don’t
worry you’re with me, just drive on,” said U Thawbita who was very
confident that even the rioting Muslims wouldn’t dare to harm a Buddhist monk.
And he was dead wrong as the Muslims really
hate Buddhists especially the saffron-robed Buddhist monks like him, period.
Muslims’ Brutal Assault on the Buddhist Monk
The Muslim Kalar swinged and hit
violently U Thawbita from behind the poor monk jerked forward on Tin Maung Win.
By then the motorbike was just slowly wheeling forward as the Muslim crowd
thirsting for the wounded Buddhist-monk’s blood was all over them.
“We’re from Tharzi, we’re from Hanzar,
we come here to buy books, please, please, we don’t know what’s going on here,
please,” pleaded and begged desperately
for mercy both U Thawbita and Tin Maung Win but the Meikhtilar-Muslims were
determined to kill the first Buddhist monk they ran into.
A steel ball from a Muslim-slingshot
hit the left side of U Thawbita’s shaved head. The Muslims were also beating up
U Thawbita’s back with sticks and iron rods. The “bone,bone,bone” noises from the back beating was unbearable for
Tin Maung Win at the front.
He then saw a sword swing just above
the bare head of the monk behind. U Thawbita then fell limp to the left onto
the ground. He stopped the bike and let it rest on the kickstand and tried to lift
the wounded monk body back onto the bike.
A brave 13-14 year old Burmese boy in
shorts also came and helped him lift the monk’s body. But dying body was now completely
limp and hard to put back on the bike. The monk’s head just above the ears was
deeply hacked and blood was flowing like water from the deep wound.
He had a big 5-gallon yellow-jerrican
on his shoulder and shouting loud, “Burn
him, burn him, burn the bloody monk,” while running towards them and
getting closer and closer. “Run Dagargyi
(Fellow Buddhist Layman), run away,” U Thawbita tried to raise his voice. “Run Uncle, run,” the boy in shorts also
was yelling at him.
The blood-thirsty Muslims were just wildly
concentrating on the saffron-robed Buddhist monk that at that moment they appeared
to forget Tim Maung Win. With a thick beard and moustache, dark-skinned Tin
Maung Win with nickname Kalar (Bengali-Muslim) also looked like a Muslim too.
But by then he knew he was in a seriously dangerous situation.
So he restarted the motorbike and drove
away and the Muslim mob threw stones and whatever they had in their hands. But
he got away. “That motherfucker is a
Buddhist-Bamar (Burmese), get him, get him,” yelling the Muslims now well
behind him.
Once he reached the nearby bridge he
met the un-armed Burmese-Buddhist crowd marching towards him. “Please help us, our monk is being killed,”
he explained to them what just happened and the crowd rushed to the site where
U Thawbita was now being brutally burned alive.
Monk U Thawbita Was Being Burned Alive Slowly by the Muslims
Soon Another Muslim kalar Nyi Nyi brought the petrol can and he pulled
the blood-stained saffron-robe off the dying monk. The Muslims who wanted to
inflict maximum possible pain on the Buddhist monk then turned him flat on his bare
back and slowly poured petrol and some acid on his belly and lower body.
Instead of just throwing petrol and acid wholesale from the cans the
Muslim men, women, and even the Muslim children were using small cups to slowly
pour acid and petrol all over his body as if they were committing a communal
torture on a completely-innocent but anyway-much-hated Buddhist monk.
The whole scene of knifing and pouring
acid and petrol was witnessed by the Burmese-Buddhist families who own the
nearby Thu-kha-myaing Guesthouse and Thu-kha-myaing Teashop.
U Soe Thein (Bandoola Bus Conductor)
and his wife Wai Mar Lwin sitting inside the Thu-kha-myaing Teashop also
witnessed the whole cruel scene of Muslims killing a Buddhist monk. But soon
they all have to flee for their lives as the Muslim mob started throwing stones
at them bystanders.
When the Burmese crowd brought back by
Tin Maung Win was getting closer the Muslims threw stones and shot steel balls and
iron darts from their deadly slingshots. But the Burmese-Buddhists marched onto
them and once too close all the Muslims had fled.
Burmese families also came back to the
scene and saw the last Muslim Pho Cho still burning the Buddhist monk. But he
also ran as the Burmese-Buddhists were almost right onto him.
The bike rider was Win Zaw Oo and the
pillion rider holding U Thawbita bloodied body was Aung Min Thu. By then poor U
Thawbita couldn’t talk or even make a noise but he was still breathing very
slowly. Only few pieces of his Thinbai (monk’s lower-garment) were sticked onto
his badly-burnt body.
Meanwhile the angry Buddhist crowd had followed
some fleeing Muslims into the nearby mosque and burned the huge Saudi-built mosque
down along with the Muslims inside.
The Death of Burmese Buddhist Monk U Thawbita in Meikhtilar
Then suddenly the people visiting the
hospital to see their loved ones were seriously disturbed by the loud yells, “The burnt monk is dead, the monk is dead!”
U Thawbita passed away on exactly 9:45
that night of 20 March 2013. Blood from his head wound was still flowing as his
body was being moved onto a concrete slab in the hospital morgue.
The villagers from his Hanzar Village
were fearfully listening to the intermittent news coming through mobile phones
from Meikhtilar. He was being attacked, he was trapped in the town, and then he
was killed. All bad news coming out of Meikhtilar about their beloved monk were
so unbelievably bad some even thought that all those were just rumours.
But the confirmation of his death came
at two in the morning direct from the Village Chief U Aung Thu. By about 5 same
morning a car was sent by the authorities to take Abbot U Pannisa to
Meikhtilar. Chief U Aung Thu and another village elder U Kaung also accompanied
the Abbot U Pannisa to Meikhtilar.
They met U Ye Myint the Chief-Minister
of Mandalay Division and the town and district administrators together with
township Buddhist Monks at the Nagaryone Pagoda in Meikhtilar.
Abbot U Pannisa strongly asked for U Thawbita’s body so that they could
bring him back to the village for a proper burial. But the authorities had
refused as they were really worried that the ongoing riots would get completely
out of hand as the dead monk’s body would become a strong motivation and a staging
point for further riots in the rural areas of the Meikhtilar District.
They also promised U Pannisa that they
will relentlessly pursue the culprits and punish them severely once caught. So
U Pannisa finally relented. Abbot U Pannisa and the Hanzar villagers finally
reached the morgue at about noon of 21 March 2013 and they had a chance to see
U Thawbita’s body lying on the concrete slab.
The dead monk was completely naked. The
morgue staff was then sewing the gaping head wound back. When they looked
close-up they sadly noticed the monk’s genitals were completely chopped off (by
the Muslims).
U Thawbita was immediately buried at
the Myindawkan Cemetery that day and only a Toyota-Hilux load of his close relatives,
including his brother U Htun Myint and his ex-wife, from his native village of
Done-gone were allowed to attend the funeral.
(Burmese police has already caught four Muslims identified by many
witnesses as the main culprits in killing of Monk U Thawbita, and they have now
been charged with Act 302 - First Degree Murder - and the Chief-attorney of
Mandalay Division has already declared that he would ask for death penalty by
hanging if the four Muslims are found guilty as charged.)
Related Posts at Following Links:
Meikhtilar Burning by Race Riots
All 14 Huge Mosques In Meikhtilar Destroyed Except One!
Related Posts at Following Links:
Meikhtilar Burning by Race Riots
All 14 Huge Mosques In Meikhtilar Destroyed Except One!