Photo source: CNN By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront Myanmar’s crisis has dragged on into a protracted and embittered conflict between the junta government, run by the Tatmadaw, and a disparate range of opposing forces with competing agendas – from pro‑democracy dissidents to ethnic armed organisations in states such as Kachin and Shan. Since the military coup in 2021, estimates suggest that more than 50,000 people have died, including thousands of civilians. The Tatmadaw tentatively maintains its grip on power in core territories such as Yangon, Mandalay, and Naypyidaw, but its influence in peripheral regions, especially in the north, is increasingly tenuous. Popular disillusionment and internal splintering within the military have contributed to inefficiencies and the effective failure to maintain control across roughly half of the country’s territory. Against this backdrop, Myanmar’s neighbours, particularly Thailand, face mounting pressure to assume a more robust role in ...

Photo Source: BBC By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront For flimsy allegations of voter fraud, after National League for Democracy won an election with a landslide victory, in November 2020, the Tatmadaw, Myanmar’s military, had set in motion an early morning coup in February 2021, for a year long emergency. It had transferred power to Commander in Chief of Defence Services Min Aung Hlaing, who had played a role in the Rohingya pogroms, and other ethnic tensions. According to human rights groups, around eight hundred civilians were killed, and more than four thousand had been imprisoned. The military generals had ordered the press not to use the terms such as ‘coup’, ‘junta’  or ‘regime’.  Since then, Myanmar had been rocked by hundreds of small bomb blasts, according to Reuters. Most of the explosive attacks involved hand grenades, mine attacks, and parcel bombs, which had targeted areas connected to the junta, such as police and administrative offices. Analysts believe that...