Shan human rights organisations on Tuesday accused the Burmese government of carrying out a sinister agenda aimed at wiping out rebel armies and strengthen its grip on the country’s ethnic nationalities in the name of development.In a report released today, the Shan Women’s Action Network (Swan) and the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) dismissed the claim that the construction of a new 361-kilometre railway between southern and eastern Shan State will promote development and facilitate passenger travel.

“The speed and ruthlessness with which the railway is being carved through this isolated border area reveal a much more sinister agenda,” the report said.

The group denounced the project, calling it “an expansion of the Burmese regime’s war apparatus in Shan State.”

The two organisations have documented how thousands of acres of farmlands have been confiscated along the route and that farmers have been threatened with prison should they complain about this army project.

The railway cuts strategically between the northern and southern territories of the United Wa State Army (UWSA), Burma’s biggest ceasefire group, which has resisted pressure by the junta to surrender their weapons and become a Border Guard Force under the command of the country’s army.

The new line will enable rapid deployment of heavy artillery into this remote mountainous region in the event of an offensive against the UWSA or other ethnic resistance forces, according to the report. UWSA is a 25,000-strong ethnic army that entered a ceasefire agreement with the junta in 1989.

“This is not a passenger railway, it’s for the army’s tanks and howitzers,” the report quoted Ying Harn Fah of Swan as saying.

“The regime is telling the world that their 2010 elections will bring change to Burma, but on the ground they are digging in for war,” said SHRF researcher Puen Kham. “Burma’s neighbours should think twice about investing in these war zones.”

According to the report, the railway will pass through the Mong Kok coalfields, opposite Thailand’s Chiang Rai province. The field is a joint investment between Thai businessmen and Burmese authorities to excavate millions of tons of lignite and build a power plant to sell electricity to Thailand.

Swan and SHRF are urging Thai and potential investors to reconsider their business plan in this project.