The Nation - Burma to release Thais

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The Nation - Sep 11, 1999.
Headlines
Burma to release Thais

BURMA will release 67 Thais later this month as a goodwill gesture following
successful talks between Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan and his Burmese
counterpart Win Aung to strengthen bilateral ties, a senior Foreign Ministry
official said yesterday.

Spokesman Don Pramudwinai said Burma had informed Thailand soon after the
Thai-Burmese Joint Commission meeting last month that it would release all
Thais, those convicted as well as those awaiting sentencing.

He said the prisoners would be released in accordance with Burmese law and
conditions, meaning that they must not commit any crime in future in Burma
or engage in any activity against the interests of the country.

''If they are arrested again in Burma for committing an offence in the
country, they will have to serve the current sentence and face new
charges,'' he said.

Don said some of the Thais were expected to arrive in Bangkok on Sept 25 on
a Thai Airways International flight while others would be handed over at the
Thai-Burmese permanent checkpoints at Tachilek-Mae Sai and Myawadi-Maesot.

According to the Burmese authorities there are 30 Thais in Insein jail in
Rangoon, 21 in Marid, eight in Kengtung and the rest scattered in six other
cities.

In Washington the US State Department has charged the Burmese junta with
formenting violence against Muslims and using force to promote Buddhism and
discourage Christianity.

In an annual report on restrictions on religious freedom around the world it
quoted various sources as saying the religious discrimination occurred
despite an ''ostensible policy of promoting interfaith tolerance'' in the
country.

It said the military regime banned any organisations of Buddhist clergy
other than nine state-recognised monastic orders and ''systematically
restricted efforts by Buddhist clergy to promote human rights and political
freedom''.

''According to multiple detailed, credible reports, government authorities
in some ethnic-minority areas coercively promoted Buddhism over other
religions,'' it noted.

It also cited reports that government security forces had ''looted, damaged
or destroyed Buddhist monasteries in ethnic-minority regions, evicting their
monks and arresting some''.

The report said Christians and Muslims also faced difficulties in obtaining
permission to build places of worship and in importing or printing
indigenous-language translations of traditional sacred texts.

Security forces were also accused of destroying or looting churches and
mosques in ethnic-minority areas.

The Nation, Agence France-Presse