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Junta hints, next target will be th
Subject: Junta hints, next target will be the Hindus
Burmese junta sees a foreign hand behind violence
Rangoon, March 23: Burma's ruling military urged people not to fall prey
to religiousand racial conflict as reports circulated on Sunday of
attacks against Muslim sites in the capital.
In an apparent reference to recent anti-Mualim riots in the country's
second largest city,Mandalay, Leiutenant General Tin Oo claimed internal
and external destructionists were trying to incite religious conflict and
sow disunity within the country.
Lt. Gen. Tin Oo, a senior member of the ruling junta, spoke on Saturday
as a group of Buddhist monks attacked a mosque in the north-eastern
Rangoon suburb of Yankin, according to reports reaching Bangkok.
The attack, and another in the near by Kaba Aye area, could not be
officially confirmed. The second incident involved either another mosque
or the ransacking of a house owned by Muslims. Although more military
presence was evident on the streets of Rangoon and other cities,
observers said troop deployment was normally increased before the Annual
Armed Forces' Day, which will be remarked on Thursday.
According to the government and Mandalay residents, the initial rioting
was sparked last on Sunday by the rape of a Buddhist girl by a Muslim
man. Monks and others vandalised mosques and Muslim- owned homes and
cars. A similar riot on Tuesday was quelled when security forces fired
over the heads of demonstrators. Tight security was imposed on Mandalay
but the city, located 700 Km north of Rangoon, was reported quiet over
the weekend.
The eruption of violence between Buddhists and Muslims in Burma is the
result of long simmering frustration against a ruling junta combined with
historical animosities, analysts say.
Burmeas authorities have blamed the violent incidents on individuals
trying to sow instability in Burma, but observers say the monks singled
out Muslims for attack since they were unable to express their rage
against the junta.
" It is my firm belief that their next target will be
the Hindus if problems between Buddhists and ( Moslems)... do not (meet)
their expectations," said one military intelligence official.The official
said the monks had been trying to scupper Burma's attempt to become a
full member of the Asean by alienating the grouping's Muslims countries.
Asean countries are Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia with the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Analysts in Rangoon agree that sinking Burma's Asean membership might be
the objective behind the attacks. The monks may be trying to "put a spoke
into Asen membership," one diplomat said. However, they also suggest that
Buddhist monks merely chose an easy target on which to vent their anger
against the authorities.
The Asian Age (New Delhi)