E/CN.4/2001/66 page 156 788. The Special Rapporteur continued to transmit information according to which several cases of human rights violations, including torture and other forms of ill-treatment, took place in the context of widespread counter-insurgency activities against armed ethnic minority opposition groups still fighting the Government. Civilians are reportedly at risk of torture by the military, who appear to often assume that they support or are even members of such groups. During counter-insurgency activities against Shan armed forces, armed forces personnel have reportedly subjected Shan villagers to torture. The alleged long-standing practice by the armed forces of forced labour and portering in many parts of the country is said to be also prevalent in Shan State. Since several army battalions were brought into Chin State after 1988, forced labour, forced portering, extortion and torture of suspects by the army have been widespread. Moreover, several Chin Christian pastors and laymen belonging to the Thantlang Baptist Association of the Zomi Baptist Convention were allegedly subjected to arbitrary arrest and torture. In particular, the Special Rapporteur transmitted information concerning the following individual cases. 789. Loon Khem, Waling, Tawna and Ai Mih, all Shan villagers from Wan Yot, were reportedly stabbed and beaten to death in February 1997 after having been seized by troops of the tatmadaw. They had reportedly returned to their village, which had been burnt down by the military forces, in order to collect some rice stores, although they had been warned by the military that they would be shot on sight if they did so. 790. The Special Rapporteur transmitted information about the widespread practice of forcible relocations in the Kayin, Kayah and Shan States. They appear to be carried out solely on account of the ethnic origin or perceived political beliefs of those who are relocated. The conditions in the relocation sites are believed to be life-threatening. They reportedly include overcrowding, lack of sanitation and medical care, lack of safe drinking water, lack of sufficient food supplies. The Special Rapporteur transmitted information concerning recent widespread incidents of torture by the military in Kayah State (since 1993) and in Shan State (since 1996), which are believed to have occurred in the context of the forcible internal displacement of civilians. In particular, the Special Rapporteur has received information concerning the following individual cases. 791. King Htun and his son Ai Lick, two villagers from Kunhing township, were harvesting rice in their fields after the relocation deadline in mid-1997 when they were reportedly stabbed to death by the tatmadaw. Their wives were also reportedly seized, tied to a tree, stripped naked and raped. 792. Nang Mai, from Nai Mai village, Kunhing township, was reportedly seized in April 1997 by the military while returning to her village to get rice after her forcible relocation in Kunhing town. She is said to have been raped over a period of five days in Wan Lao, a deserted village. She was then allegedly covered with pieces of wood and burned to death. 793. U Yana, a Buddhist monk from Kunhing township, was reportedly killed during the forcible relocation process that took place in March 1997. Government troops came to the village and detained 60 men, whom they released after they found U Yana. The soldiers reportedly tied him to a post for a whole night and a whole day, in the sun. He was then