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Pegu November Uprising (r)



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          Muslim Liberation Organization of Burma (MLOB)
   Statement regarding the anti-Muslim instigation by the SPDC in Pegu
                                                  December,30 ,1998.

The Muslim Liberation Organization of Burma (MLOB) would like to sincerely 
appreciate and thank the Buddhist monks, brave students, workers and the
people of Pegu who could have easily known of the dirty tricks and cunning
tactics of the ruling Slorc/SPDC authorities  towards the innocent Muslims
there.

On November, 15, 1998,a clash between Buddhist monks and police took place
in Pegu due to uncivilized manners of the police towards the Buddhist monks
who have  protested against the fashion shows  deemed as against the
culture and tradition of the Burmese people. It was said that two policemen
were killed in the clash between the police and the monks, students
,workers and and Pegu people.

Later, the clash was transformed into an anti-Slorc/SPDC uprising. The
monks, students, workers and the people started crushing down all the
Slorc/SPDC's propaganda signboards hanging around there. In the same
evening, over 1000 monks from three nearby  monasteries  joined the crowd.
The ruling Slorc/SPDC is very much afraid that this kind of unrest could
lead to political unstability and may even threaten their very power base.

Since the police failed to suppress the anti-Slorc/SPDC uprising, well
equipped troops of Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 107 reinforced the police
to quell the crowd.  The monks ,students and all the people immediately
dispersed in order to avoid being shot at and arrested by the authorities.
However, troops were  positioned like in a war-field in all corners of the
town. On November, 17th- 18th, the monks in  groups were walking along the
roads and streets of Pegu in a show that they were dissatisfied with the
Slorc/SPDC authorities.

At 10.00 a.m.,on Nov. 19th, the authorities, in order to divert the
attention of the majority Buddhist people, organized about 100 'false
monks',who have claimed  that they belonged to the  Monk's Union,and tried
to create racial and religious riots between Buddhists and minority Muslims
in Pegu. The'fake monks' started to throw stones and bricks at the Muslims'
mosques and religious places and alleged that " Burmese women have been

defiled by the Muslims and Buddhism is being destroyed by the Muslims".
However, the Buddhist monks in Burma are  politically active and
far-sighted. They easily realised the nature of the    allegation. So, the
genuine monks, students and the justice-loving people of Pegu did not
participate in the inhumane plans planted by the ruling authori- ties, so
that the Slorc/SPDC- made fake monks had to give up their ill-  
intentioned plans and run away to  avoid being   punished by the people.The
innocent Muslims  avoided untold damages. This shows that the dictators are
afraid of  justice and  people's might.
A similar incident took place in March and April, 1997, when the theft of
the gold and precious stones from one of Burma's most-revered Mahamyatmunee
Buddha statues in Mandalay by Slorc high officials and the killing of some
monks in the jails were the grounds on which the monks mounted the March
demonstrations    against the junta.The junta came to know of the plan
before the demonstrations  took place, and to avoid confrontation with the
monks, immediately framed a   case that had already been settled involving
a Muslim youth. At the same time, the Slorc regime created some"false
monks" to instigate the other monks to    demonstrate against the Muslim
community. Thus the planned demonstrations by  the monks against the Slorc
were once again turned into anti-Muslim ones.By 18, March,1997,14  mosques
and about 400 houses and shops of the Muslims were     looted and destroyed
in Mandalay alone.( Witness to riots in Mandalay, Images Asia). By this
time,unrest had spread to Rangoon and other cities.  

We, therefore, would like to thank and express appreciation of the monks,
students and all the justice-loving people of Burma who could differenciate
between  truth and falsehood and avoid harming innocent minority Muslims.
We condemn the Slorc/SPDC regime who has repeatedly  victimized the
innocent minority Muslims whenever the authorities are about to face
problems.  

The Central Executive Committee,
Muslim Liberation Organization of Burma.