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Today Bkk-Post (8)
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<font size=7><b>Exiled leader pleads against repatriation<br>
</font></b><font size=5><i>Torture, death await raiders if sent
back<br>
</font></i><font size=3><b>Post Reporters<br>
</font><font size=5>T</font></b><font size=3>he leader of Burma's
parallel government yesterday appealed to the government not to
repatriate or deport the dissidents who seized hostages and occupied the
Burmese embassy.<br>
"We plead with the Thai government to take action according to Thai
law except repatriating them.. repatriating them is simply letting them
be tortured and killed," said Sein Win, when contacted in
Washington.<br>
"We hope the Thai government sees the situation in a wider political
context, not just as a question of people occupying the embassy,"
said Dr Sein Win, head of the exiled National Coalition Government of the
Union of Burma.<br>
The storming of the Burmese embassy "happened because the military
[junta in Rangoon] ignored the people's will", he said.<br>
The dissidents called on the ruling military junta to release political
prisoners, enter into a "meaningful dialogue" with the
pro-democracy opposition, and form a coalition government based on
results of the 1990 election.<br>
"Young people are frustrated.. they have been waiting a long time
for the military [junta] to change the way to democracy. They are quite
angry," he said.<br>
Dr Sein Win was confident the hostage-taking would not hinder the cause
of the pro-democracy opposition working inside and outside Burma.<br>
He said repression is increasing in Burma with more arrests of
dissidents. He also said human rights violations in the Shan state are
"happening every day on a large scale".<br>
"The military say one thing and do something else.. we don't know
who is in charge," he said, referring to remarks made on Sept 24 in
New York by Burmese Foreign Minister Win Aung<br>
U Win Aung told the Asia Society his government was trying to stop the
fighting among warring factions.<br>
He also said the government was transitional, with democracy its goal.
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