Key Route: Muse Town in Myanmar’s Northern Shan State | Photo: AFP
Winding through the lawless, rocky hills of northern Myanmar, National Highway 3 links a stunning series of victories by ethnic rebels and pro-democracy fighters in their war against the junta.
An offensive that began a year ago saw the military’s opponents seize much of the 480km route that links Mandalay’s second city to China.
Control of the road deprives the junta of lucrative taxes, threatens its bases in the central plains and is a huge morale booster for its opponents as the civil war drags into its fourth year.
The images show the destruction caused by the previous year’s fighting and the rebel groups trying to govern the newly captured territory.
The route starts in Muse, a city of ill repute, tucked against the Chinese border. Every morning, hundreds of locals line up for day passes to cross into China to buy consumer goods that can be resold back in Myanmar. More than $2 billion worth of trade passed through Muse in the 2023-2024 financial year, according to the junta’s Commerce Ministry. But venturing into the hinterland from Muse requires a bit of savvy — and money, a driver said.
About an hour from Muse is a checkpoint manned by soldiers from the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, one of the rebel groups behind last year’s offensive. About 30 km further is the town of Kutkai, home to about 50,000 people. The fighting that pushed the military out scattered many of its inhabitants.
About halfway along the highway, the town of Lashio represents the junta’s biggest defeat since it seized power in 2021. Lashio was known as the terminus of the “Burma Road,” built by the British during World War II. It is now the prize of the army of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance, an ethnic Chinese rebel group.
Near the end of National Highway 3, the former British hill station of Pyin Oo Lwin is still in military hands.
Published – October 26, 2024, 11:45 AM IST
