BNI Weekly News- December- 29, 2003
. Forced
Labour Continues in Arakan
.
NATIONAL RECONCILIATION - the long and painful path
.
Cynthia's medic kidnapped by Military Intelligence in Mae Sod
. New
Oasis for Burmese Migrant Workers in
. New Mon
State Party’s first step to reform
.
. Robbers
kill an MI informer smuggling goods across Naf
. Rakhaing nationals heading for
. Move to
destroy centuries old village foiled
.
Expectation rose from
_________________________________________________
Forced Labour
Continues in Arakan
Despite the junta claims that there is no forced labour in
been incidents of forced labour continue to happened in
state.
Between November 15-20th, 25 villagers from May La Maung
Township had to collect material for the building and forced
to build them
without receiving any wages.
This incident occurred under the direction of Captain Thu Raine Htun, the
commander of Ann region under the
Western Command. The buildings are to
house the engineers and workers for
the Ann-MaEi road building.
Similarly, 30 villagers from Ka Zu
Kaine village were forced to clear the
shoulders of the road.
According to the local sources, the road between Ann and Ma Ei building has
progressed to half a mile by the
end of November, and the regional military
authority are getting the local
people to “volunteer” at the road building
by saying that “you should work to
build the road you are going to use, and
who else would come and build for
you.”#
_________________________________________
NATIONAL
RECONCILIATION - the long and painful path
Salai Kipp
Kho Lian
Preparing for the Long and Painful Path
Amidst the complexity of conflict between
the subsequent long and painful
sufferings inflicted upon our country's
national psyche are the seemingly
unending calls for solutions that are as
diverse and complicated as the
conflicts itself. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
reduces all these complexities into
a few simple words in which one can find
a philosophy or path our people can
embrace to bring the country out of its
long nightmare and lead towards
unity and prosperity. These key words are
National Reconciliation.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has said, "It has always been the
firm conviction of
those working for democracy in
dialogue between diverse political
forces that we can achieve national
reconciliation which is the first
and most vital requisite for a united and
prosperous country."
After a long and fierce debate among themselves, the Burma
Strategy Group
(BSG) has reached a consensus to embrace the path of
national reconciliation
as their firm political conviction
as a solution to our country's problem.
It is firmly believed that the process of national
reconciliation will
eventually bring about peace, unity
and prosperity for the entire people of
This political path, contrary to some critics' assertion, is
not an easy
path but rather a remarkably
difficult path. The starting point of this long
walk to freedom is in the 'mind
set' of all those working for democracy in
same time challenges ones long-held
prejudices. The words 'national
reconciliation' themselves imply,
among others, forgiveness.
Moreover, for national reconciliation to bear fruit, it is
completely
impossible for a single force or a
group of forces to walk the path alone.
The chosen path, at its core, demands all former rival
forces to walk
together towards achieving a single
goal - no more as rivals but as partners
in re-building a prosperous
country.
As such, to walk this path of national reconciliation
entails painful
psycholigical
preparations to be endured by each of us. And these
preparations take place in the
parts of our psyche which provokes conflict
and terrible suffering inside us.
A few may falter at this earlier or initial stage of our psycholigical
preparations even before walking a
single step on this long path. Some may
not be able to resist the terrible
sufferings inflicted upon them by friends
for having chosen this path. We
know this path will be a difficult and
painful one.
Nevertheless we have chosen and embraced this path
determined to walk
together with all our compatriots
until the envisioned goal of freedom and
prosperity is achieved. #
______________________________________________________
Cynthia's medic
kidnapped by Military Intelligence in Mae Sod
A medic from Mae Tao Clinic, run by Dr Cynthia Maung in Mae Sot, was
kidnapped by Burmese Military
Intelligence (MI) and interrogated for two
days and two nights, Myo Min Oat who was just released from the hands of MI
and got back to Mae Sot on 19
December said.
Burmese MIs who disguised
themselves as Thai immigration officials in
civilian dress kidnapped the medic
on December 12 near the clinic on the
outskirt of Mae Sod.
“A blue pick up car stopped near by me. They call me in Thai
language Marni
marni
(Come here). They searched me and dragged me into the cab. Then I came
to notice that I was arrested,” Myo Min Oat said.
Consequently, Myo Min Oat was
brought to Myawaddy town of
Mae Sod.
“I could not able to move my body. At the same time I know
it is worthless
to try to escape. When I reached to
Myawaddy, they put me into a dark room,
a dark prison cell,” he explained.
“They arrested and then released me only at night times. It
was one day and
one night they interrogated me.
Then, they asked me questions one more day.
Then they released me,” Myo Min
Oat said.
The medic was brought to Pa-an town
situated inside
interrogation in Myawaddy, said the father of the abducted medic U Tin Oo, a
former member of National League
for Democracy- Liberated Area.
“My son was asked whether is his father working for NLD
Liberated Area, is
his father’s name U Tin Oo and
whether is he working for Maedaw Clinic,” U
Tin Oo said.
Dr Synthia Maung
who is anticipating the possible arrests of her medics
commented “I had to suggest my
medics not to go out alone if they don’t have
any ID card. If they go out alone
and were arrested, it is difficult to know
on time. On the other hand, there
are a lot of arrests in Mae Sot by Thai
immigration officials. Sometimes
they raided homes. So, I warned those who
have no ID card not to go out
alone.”
Last year, a senior medic from Dr Cynthia's clinic, Maung Maung was also
kidnapped, brought to Myawaddy and threatened by Burmese military
intelligence.
Due to newly adopted foreign workers policy in
are facing legal status problem
though Thai authorities previously issued
the work permits for medics and
health workers from Mae Tao clinic.
However, the abducted medic believes that there is no
involvement of Thai
authority in his kidnapping case.
Dr. Cynthia's Mae Tao clinic helps treating the patients of
Burmese migrant
workers and refugees at Mae Sot, a
border town situated northwest of
________________________________________________
New Oasis for Burmese
Migrant Workers in
Burmese handloom workers who were driven out from Mizoram in last July found
a new work site for their survival
at Churachandpur in
It is record breaking for the arrival of Burmese handloom
workers in Manipur
State as nearly 150 Burmese workers have engaged in five
handloom factories
facilitating with seventy weaving
machine, local residents said.
Though, Aizawl, the capital of
handloom workers, Burmese workers
were forced to dislocate by the outrages
of local residents when a Burmese
citizen committed rape to nine-years-old
student in Aizawl.
Later it was discovered that the convict was Mizo who
migrated from
Newly arrived Burmese handloom workers in
there are convenient and having
good relation with local residents.
The average income for a skilled handloom worker in Churanchandpur is about
Rs 100 (nearly 2,000 Kyats) per day.
Burmese workers claim that Churanchandpur
becomes a new survival place for
Burmese handloom workers.
Apparently, Churanchandpur is
facilitated with shorter route with
has cheaper expense to reach from
in Aizawl.
Furthermore, the burden of checkpoints in Churanchandpur
border
is negligible if handloom factory
owners could protect them whenever they
were arrested.
Due to desperate economy and unemployment in
migrant workers had settled down in
Mizoram for their survival.
As they are migrant workers away from their homes, Burmese
migrants in
Mizoram used to work as handloom
workers, woodcutters, construction workers,
carpenters, waiters, taxi drivers,
quick-fixers for electronics equipments,
musicians in bands, street vendors,
porters and housemaids.
Churanchandpur is situated between
Mizoram and
bordering with northern
_______________________________________________
New Mon State Party’s
first step to reform
By Banya Hongsar
Five members of the New Mon State Party have been enlisted
to participate in
a coming national convention in
State Peace and Development Council.
The party’s two-day emergency meeting at the organisation headquarters in
southern
close cooperation with the local
community.
Ever since the ceasefire in 1995, the party has changed its
internal and
external business operations in
Sensing that reformation is the first step for survival in
such an
environment, the party has formed
the ‘Committee for Youth Assembly’ in Mon
led by Nai
Tala Mon, head of the party’s Department of Public
Affairs.
According to an internal source, the party has expanded the
work of its
Department of Political Affairs and raised its members in
the last one year.
A new political course will also be conducted at the
beginning of next year.
Recently, party General Secretary Nai
Hongsa said in an interview that the
party is looking at alternative
ways to develop its political strategies
within one year considering the
external political environment.
In a public statement in August, the party invited the
people of Mon to
report to the party headquarters any
instance of lack of accountability by
its members.
The statement said the party has set up a ‘Department of
Auditor General’
both at the central and district
level to pursue complaints of any "wrong
doings" by the members.
The New Mon State Party has been fighting for
self-determination in
for the last forty years. And the
party has been engaged in community work
in the fields of Health and
Education since the last seven years both in
The party’s youth wing ‘Mon Youth Progressive Organization’
(MYPO) has been
in recent years focusing on
education and capacity development among the
youth. On the other hand, the Mon
Women Organization (MWO) works on women’s
health, child care and income generating
projects.
The New Mon State Party believes that for surviving in
Burmese political
arena, there is a need for an open
social and political policy, not just on
papers but also in practice. #
____________________________________________
The
to traffic in the coming winter,
Bangladesh Communications Minister Nazmul
Huda said yesterday.
Communications Ministry meeting yesterday reviewed the
development of the 34
km Ramu-Balukhali
road on the
road on the Burmese part.
The meeting also discussed the construction of two bridges
and constructing
another two km of road for the
project, they added.
A report on the site for the proposed bridge near Taungbro border in
was handed over to Huda at the meeting, sources said.
The proposed 91 km cross-border highway would be built from Ramu in
400 crore, sources added.
Roads and Highways Department Sheikh Rabiul
Islam were also present at the
meeting. #
__________________________________________
Robbers kill an MI
informer smuggling goods across Naf
An Military Intelligence (MI)
informer from Maung Daw, Arakan,
was killed by
dacoits, while another man was
injured in Naf river while they were
smuggling goods in two country
boats to
correspondent.
On December 16, Mra Aye (40), an
MI informer, was asked by the MI personnel
to smuggle goods in two country
boats to
amount of money from two women
owning goods.
The goods belonged to two women, who were on the motorboat
running between
Maung Daw and Sanpaibyin Yin village.
Later the smuggling goods were loaded
onto two country boats on the way
to
When the two boats came near Chowdhury
Para Rakhaing village on the bank of
Naf river on the
boat. Another young man, Approo (22) received serious injury, but the two
women managed to escape by another
boat.
The dead body of Mra Aye was
recovered from the river near a village called
Doon Rwa
of Teknaf Township, Bangladesh the next day.
It has been learnt that the MI has been sending their
informers with goods
of smugglers by boat to
_____________________________________________
Rakhaing nationals heading for
Thai authorities captured 49 Rakhaing
nationals from its territorial waters,
who were on a motorboat on way to
this morning.
The Rakhaings were arrested by
Thai authorities on December 16 when they
were stranded following a snag in
their motorboat. They have now been sent
to Ranoung
custody under Thai immigration law.
The RFA news further said that the detainees were from Sittwe, the capital
of Arakan,
and were illegally trying to enter
Among the captives were several 14-15 year-old teenagers,
the radio said.
The detainees had been short of food and drinking water for
at least ten
days when they were found by the
Thai authority.
The people of Arkan are moving to neighbouring countries or to mainland
is learnt. #
________________________________________
Move to destroy
centuries old village foiled
Women and students of Myo Ma Kayan Dan (Shikdar Para)
town in Arakan
state foiled an attempt by the police to destroy the
predominantly Rohingya
Muslims area of the village on December 11, according
to our correspondent.
On the said day, the Maungdaw
Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC)
Chairman Captain Hla Pho accompanied by some policemen went to the Myo Ma
Kayan Dan village to evacuate 26 houses. While policemen were
trying to
destroy one of the houses, some students
from nearby
Maungdaw and women from the
village put up a resistance, resulting in
clashes between the two sides.
The police fled the scene following the resistance. A woman,
Somira Begum
was slightly injured in the clash,
he said.
Following the clash, police reinforcement was moved to the
spot resulting in
fresh clash between students and
police. Due to mass involvement of students
in the clash, police and SPDC
authorities could not succeed in their
evacuation program and had to
retreat to their camp, said a victim of the
relocation plan.
The next day, the village PDC chairman along with some
villagers was called
to the Maung
daw PDC office to resolve the problem. But, the
outcome of the
meeting is still unknown, he
further said.
"We have the basic human right to stay in our village.
Despite
rehabilitation, they forced us onto
the streets to demolish our society,"
said a woman who participated in
the clash.
A religious leader said, " The
eviction drive amounts to maltreatment of
Rohingyas. Confiscation of Rohingya lands
and uprooting of their centuries
old settlements are nothing but an
attempt to destroy the economic base of
the Rohingya
people."
Though the concerned authority had ordered for vacating
these houses in
August last year, these villagers managed to get continuous
stay permit
after bribing the officials.
On June 14, this year, the Maungdaw
PDC Chairman ordered evacuation of the
26 houses. However, no instruction
was given from the government side
regarding compensation or an
alternative site for their resettlement. #
_____________________________________________________________
Expectation rose from
By Nava Thakuria
Guwahati,
its soil. The tiny Himalayan
kingdom had launched army operation to flush
out armed cadres of United
Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), National
Democratic Front of Bodoland
(NDFB) and Kamatapur Liberation Organisation
(KLO) on December 15. The operation with logistic supports
from
witnessed 6000 Royal Bhutan Army
got involved which primarily took place in
the southern
expectations are being raised from
"if any" from their land,
the presence of North East
militants in their soil.
Burmese military government, in recent years, raided the
training camps of
the National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K) located inside
Burmese territory. It is reportedly
cooperating with the Indian armed forces
to crack down the anti-India
insurgents along the Indo-Burma border.
During his recent meeting in
minister U Win Aung has assured his
Indian counterpart Mr. Yashwant Sinha
that
flush out Indian insurgent camps,
if any in our country," U Win Aung told
reporters in
In December 2001, the Burmese army raided several hideouts
of the United
National Liberation Front (UNLF), spreading over
near Indian border and arrested
senior leaders of the outfit besides
recovering of a huge cache of arms
and ammunition.
However, after some months in detention, these UNLF
insurgent leaders were
released by the Burmese government,
despite repeated requests by the Indian
authorities for their extradition.
For
of the secessionist outfits was
"very very" important, which can be guessed
from the active initiative by none
other than the King Jigme Singye
Wangchuk. "Our honorable King Wangchuk
had personally led the operation to
smash around 30 camps of ULFA, NDFB
and KLO. With the strength of 3000
rebels inside our territory, the
militants were carrying out hit-and-run
strikes in
years," told
In the first 10 days of operation the causalities in both
sides mounted up
to 150. Speaking to media
persons, the director of Bhutanese Foreign
Ministry, who was temporarily based in the southern
Samdrup Jongkhar,
Mr. Yashey Dorji claimed
that RBA had seized both ULFA's
central command and general
headquarters and smashed all 30 camps inside
who surrendered to Bhutanese
troops. But surprisingly Yashey Dorji
had no
convincing information regarding
the captured militants and also
causalities. There are contradictory
claim by both sides regarding the
capture of militant leaders.
While
captured some high profile leaders
of ULFA like Drishti Rajkhowa,
Benning
Rabha, Biju
Deka, the ULFA military chief Paresh
Barua denied their arrest.
The problem of taking shelter by anti-Indian insurgents in
years old problem. The Royal
government had arranged a series of discussion
with the militants in last six
years. But finally they decided to go for
army action. In fact, the time
selected for the operation was really
favourable
for the kingdom.
media was focusing on the fate of
the deposed Iraqi president Saddam
Hussein. After the most sought after fugitive of
Saturday (December 13), the world media had started focusing
exclusively on
Saddam. Royal Bhutan Army launched
the operation on Monday, though
reportedly Bhutanese King Wangchuk made a final deadline on December 31,
2003 to the Indian underground to leave their soil. But the
Himalayan
kingdom did not want to wait for
the deadline and suddenly preponed the
attacks.
Facing the heat of sudden attack, ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa appealed
the King, Royal Government and
people of
appeal, which was aired through the
Internet, termed the massive army
operation as illegal. It also
cautioned
"conspiracy" by
military" in the way of taking
innocent lives noncombatant women and
children. But
rejection, ULFA chief of the army
staff Mr Barua threatened
to attack on the
Bhutanese population in North East India.
aspects. The habitants in the
southern parts of
business relation with the
bordering Indian villages of
"One may guess that
they preferred time period to
launch the operation is significant.
preponed
the attack on the insurgents to take the advantage of the
situation, where the national and
international media being preoccupied with
the fate of Iraqi dictator Saddam
in hands of
prompt international
reaction," told A. Bhattacharya, a senior student
leader based in Guwahati.
But the insurgents had also left no stone unturned
to play the emotional cards against
brutal attack and killing of the
women and children, the ULFA, NDFB
and KLO called 48 hours
and Kamatapur
(north
2003.
In a statement, issued by Rubi Bhuyan, Central Publicity member of ULFA
claimed that Bhim
Buragohain declared himself as "Horse de
Combat" hoisting
white flag and leading women,
children and war wounded for safe passage, but
he was killed by RBA only violate
Geneva Convention as well as all civilized
norms of modern war. In the
meantime, ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa
appealed to the
his bereaved family on humanitarian
ground.
Manipulating the issue emotionally, ULFA chairman not only
demanded the body
of seventy-crossed Bhim Buragohain, but also managed
moral supports from
different insurgent outfits in
North East India.
It may be mentioned that Bhim Buragohain, popularly known as Mama was the
"think tank" of ULFA and
he was one of the founder eight members of ULFA,
which is fighting for an
Independent Assam since 1979. Bachelor till his
death Buragohain
was also an accomplished painter and sculptor who learned
about visual arts at Santiniketan in
KLO imposed the bandh on December
20, 21 in protest against the killing of
Buragohain, NSCN (IM) was first to
react with solidarity. The oldest
insurgent group in North East
India, now going through the negotiation
process with the government of
December 21. At the same time Manipur People's Liberation
Front (MPLF),
which is the umbrella organization
of three banned outfits namely United
National Liberation Front (UNLF), People's Revolutionary
Party of Kangleipak
(Prepak) and Revolutionary
People's Front (RPF) called a dawn-to-dusk
general strike in Manipur on
December 23! . Kuki National Front (KNF) and
National Liberation Front of Twipra
(NLFT) had also extended support to the
move. Even Amsterdam-based Naga International Support Center (NISC) had also
appealed
At the same time, taking the advantage of insufficient or no
information by
the Bhutanese authority from the
conflict zone, ULFA started taking
advantages of the situation. ULFA
chief Rajkhowa pointed out the preventive
measures taken by
Society (IRCS) workers in war zone.
It may be mentioned that ULFA leader
Barua appealed for IRCS help
inside
violation was going on inside
He challenged
go inside for taking stock of the
situation and necessary action.
Even captured ULFA publicity secretary Mithinga
Daimari also supported the
allegation of Rajkhowa.
Before producing to the Chief Judicial Magistrate at
Nalbari in lower
the women cadres of the ULFA and
also tortured the children inmates. Of
course, in the meantime,
to Indian civil administration on
December 24.
Medhi officially received them.
But the sound of protest against the killing
of non-rebel women and children in
different sections in the society.
Though
members in state legislative
assembly recently the Congress leader told that
the government had taken the issue
with top Army officials and also the
union government of
Students' Organisation and Manab Adhikar Sangram
Samiti (MASS) had appealed
to put an end to
MASS had also demonstrated against
rally in Guwahati.
forward to appeal the Prime
Minister AB Vajpayee to initiate talks with the
ultras. The list of intellectuals
and writers, who had written to the prime
minister and also the president of
India APJ Abdul Kalam started elongating.
At least 25 social activists and
journalists had faxed to both PM and
President to take immediate initiate to stop the unwanted
killing of women
and children in
____________________________________________________________
Burma News International (BNI) is a network of six
Independent Burma Media
organizations: The Mizzima News, The Narinjara News,
the Kaladan Press
Network, the Khonumthung News
Group, the Network Media Group and the
Independent Mon News Agency. #
________________________________________________________________