Muslims join fight to topple Myanmar’s military

Scattered across the lush, rolling hills of southern Myanmar’s Tanintharyi region, rebel fighters stationed at checkpoints inspect cars and trucks traveling towards a nearby town still under the control of the Myanmar military-their adversary.

While this is a familiar sight in the region, where the struggle against the military waged by disparate armed groups has intensified since the 2021 coup, what sets these rebels apart is their faith.

These are members of the little-known ‘Muslim Company’, who have joined the struggle for democracy in Myanmar as part of a Christian- and Buddhist-dominated armed group – the Karen National Union (KNU).
Officially named 3rd Company of Brigade 4 in the KNU, the 130 soldiers of the Muslim Company are just a fraction of the tens of thousands fighting to overthrow the country’s military rulers.

With their story largely untold, newsmen visited the company’s headquarters, nestled between the ridges of jungle-clad mountains at an undisclosed location in Myanmar’s south, to piece together an almost forgotten thread in the intricate tapestry of Myanmar’s conflict.

“Some areas are focused on ethnicities having their own states,” Muslim Company leader Mohammed Eisher, 47, explained, referring to the armed resistance movements who have long fought against Myanmar’s military.

In Tanintharyi, Eisher said, no one group dominates the land and, besides, the military’s repression affects all groups.

“As long as the military remains in place, Muslims, and everybody else, will be oppressed,” he said.

Source: Al Jazeera