June 24, 2024

Monks from Depayin Township, Sagaing Region, have joined the Patta Nikkujjana Kammasana boycott against the military, following in the footsteps of monks from Chaung-U Township, who initiated the boycott on June 23.

Leading the monks in Depayin Township is Sayadaw Pannissara Lakara. The decision to join the boycott comes after the military’s killing of Venerable Bhaddanta Muninda Bhivamsa, a member of the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee and abbot of Win Nyaung Mi Taung Monastery, near the Ngan Zun-Mandalay highway close to Tada-U Airport on June 19. The monks were moved to act by this brutal incident.

The boycott involves refusing to accept alms or services from the military and its affiliates, a traditional form of protest that holds significant cultural and religious weight in Myanmar.

The Patta Nikkujjana Kammasana boycott is seen as a powerful act of defiance by the religious community against the ongoing violence and repression perpetrated by the military regime.