"I would like to explain about this martial law according to records that I have studied... martial law is neither more nor less than the will of the general who commands the army; in fact, martial law means no law at all." (Major General Khin Nyunt, Secretary-1 of the State Law and Order Restoration Council and head of military intelligence, 15 May 1991.)... "Human rights are grossly and persistently violated throughout Myanmar. The victims come from every section of society, and every ethnic and religious group. Opposition to the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) has been systematically suppressed; over 1,500 political activists have been jailed, sometimes following unfair trials and sometimes with no trial at all. Many have been tortured or have suffered other forms of ill-treatment. The military continues to detain civilians to work as porters or as labourers who are routinely ill-treated and even summarily killed when they become too exhausted to continue working. In ethnic minority areas where the military confronts armed insurgency, defenceless civilians have been arbitrarily arrested, tortured and killed. Minorities in areas where there is little or no armed opposition, like the Muslims of Rakhine (Arakan) State, have also fallen victim to gross violations of their basic rights, including arbitrary arrest, torture and extrajudicial execution..."