A six-year-old shot in the stomach as she ran to her father’s arms. A woman in her seventies killed while saying her prayers in her home.

Young men and women gunned down as they protested in the street, demanding democracy.

The casualties of Myanmar’s post-coup crackdown span all ages, social classes, and ethnic and religious backgrounds. They include students and poets, nurses and bank staff, politicians and construction workers.

Nearly seven months after the army seized power on Feb. 1, Myanmar’s security forces have killed more than 1,000 people in a bid to crush resistance, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an activist group that has tracked arrests and deaths. Almost daily, the association’s death tally rises.

The tragedy of what appears could be a long-running civil war remains a distinct possibility in Myanmar today. Nevertheless, the term “civil war” itself is inappropriate. Rather Myanmar today resembles Europe during the Nazi occupation. While the sense of occupation by a foreign force had always existed in the ethnic minority areas with their insurgent organizations, there is a sense today that this is also the case in the Bamar heartland. The occupying army is Myanmar’s own national army (the Tatmadaw) which, from its foundation, has largely functioned as an autonomous state within a state. Those civilians who support the military, such as the members of the largely proxy party of the military, the Union Solidary and

Development Party (USDP), are treated as collaborators.

Seen even from the conventional paradigm of a military coup, replacing a democratically elected government, the reaction of the world, and above all the West, is disappointing. Yet, once we change perspective to conceive of Myanmar as an occupied country then the reaction of the world is simply irresponsible. To use a metaphor, Myanmar today is an international orphan.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), about 3 million Myanmar people need humanitarian assistance and protection services across various parts of the country. Apart from the chaos and violence resulting from the February coup, the pandemic is ravaging the country – the total number of people infected with COVID-19 is over 376,000 and Myanmar is notching over 2,000 cases per day. That is believed to be a massive undercount, however.

Myanmar’s military has centralized all resources for providing medical aid, from vaccines to oxygen and medications. At the same time, medical workers have refused to work for the junta, forming the backbone of the Civil Disobedience Movement.  By blocking aid to the neediest people, Myanmar’s generals have transformed humanitarian aid into a device for the continuation of war against its own citizens.

Sources/More: The Diplomat, Reuters

Pray: Dear God, please protect the people of Myanmar. Conceal them from the eyes of those who would harm them - and keep them safe.

Pray: for a de-escalation of violence and conflict in Myanmar. Lord, would You prevent civil war in this nation?  (1 Peter 3:9)

Pray: as the people of Myanmar recover from COVID, may they have all the medical and treatment resources they need, and I pray for the virus to be stopped in its tracks, so that the number of cases would go down dramatically.

Pray: Comfort those who have already lost loved ones.