India must take note: Civil uprising is tipping the balance in Myanmar

One thing is clear - the junta is no longer fully in control, with hit and run attacks on military convoys, army bases and other high-security targets a regular occurrence

Myanmar’s junta is under pressure in a way it hasn’t been in decades.

Challenging its military might are armed civilian groups known as the People’s Defense Force — a grassroots insurgency made up of citizens including farmers, doctors, teachers, home-makers and engineers — all determined to overthrow the generals who took control of the country in a coup just over a year ago. Mass street protests and a deadly crackdown followed, and on past history, that might have been the end of it.

But it wasn’t. There is now debate over whether Myanmar is now in the grip of a civil war.