Relatives do not rule out foul play, but police say there was no immediate evidence of violence.
After being missing for more than one week, the body of a Kachin father of five was found near his farmland in Hpakant Township.
The cause of death of Hpaujung La Seng, age 48, remains unknown, but police reported that there were no visible indications of violence, following a post-mortem examination carried out on August 10, one day after he was found.
“According to my observations, I didn’t see any physical injuries on the body. We are waiting for the medical report. We will know the result after we receive this report. We will investigate this case,” a police officer from the village of Kamaing told KNG.
Hpaujung La Seng lived in Maw-one Ward 3 in Hpakant town. He went missing when he went to his farmland in Yaykartar village, between Kamaing and Ma-u-pin on July 31.
Hpaujung Sut Naw Hpan, the son of the late Hpaujung La Seng, said that the circumstances are suspicious, even though his father appeared not to have endured bodily injury. He remains unconvinced that there was no foul play in the case.
“When I saw the body of my late father, many thoughts came into my mind. It’s because his belongings and his body were laying in opposite directions. His belongings were a distance of about 200 yards away, but the body was found at the corner of the farmland,” Hpaujung Sut Naw Hpan told KNG.
The late Hpaujung La Seng and his family had fled their farmland in 2011, following the breakdown of a 17-year ceasefire between the Kachin Independence Army and the Burma Army that year. Clashes in the area meant that he was unable to tend to the land, but this year, he had returned to work on it for the first time.
