BurmaNet News: April 6, 2001

[strider@xxxxxxxxxxx]

______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
        An on-line newspaper covering Burma 
         April 6, 2001   Issue # 1772
______________ www.burmanet.org _______________

INSIDE BURMA _______
*AFP: Myanmar says visit of UN rights envoy "constructive" 
*AP: Brother of Myanmar opposition leader renews legal battle for her 
house
*Shan Herald Agency for News: Weather and overweight killed Tin Oo?
*Xinhua: Construction of Myanmar's 3rd Int'l Airport Underway
*Independent Mon News Agency: Child labor used in road construction
*The New Light of Myanmar (SPDC): General Maung Aye receives Lt-Gen 
Watanachi Chimuanwong of Royal Thai Army and party 
*Muslim Information Centre of Burma: Junta kills Imam of mosque for 
money

REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL _______
*Reuters: UN envoy sees ``cautious optimism'' in Myanmar
*AP: Activists appeal for release of elderly Myanmar detainee 
*The Hindu (New Delhi): Myanmarese refugees not ready to return

ECONOMY/BUSINESS _______
*Reuters: Daewoo Int to supply Myanmar $150 mln oil, products
*Shan Herald Agency for News: Village headmen arrested for failure to 
fill rice quota

OPINION/EDITORIALS_______
*ALTSEAN-BURMA: Oldest Political Prisoner



__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________



AFP: Myanmar says visit of UN rights envoy "constructive" 

YANGON, April 6 (AFP) - Myanmar's ruling junta said Friday an historic 
three-day visit by the United Nations' new human rights envoy Paulo 
Sergio Pinheiro was "constructive." 

 "We consider the visit of Mr. Pinheiro as constructive. We have 
cooperated with him to our utmost," Myanmar's foreign ministry said in a 
statement to AFP. 
 "We regard him as an honest person and hope that his reports to the 
human rights commission will reflect the reality and truth prevailing in 
the country," it said. 

 The visit, hailed as a sign of a diplomatic thaw in the military-run 
country, culminated in a meeting Thursday with opposition leader Aung 
San Suu Kyi at her Yangon home, where she has been confined since 
September. 

 The envoy left Yangon later Thursday for Bangkok, en route to Geneva, 
after a wrap-up meeting with Foreign Minister Win Aung. 

 On Wednesday Pinheiro was allowed to call at the headquarters of the 
opposition National League for Democracy where he held hour-long talks 
with senior members, including party elder U Lwin. 

 The Brazilian academic is the first UN human rights envoy to be allowed 
into Myanmar in five years. He replaced Rajsoomer Lallah who quit last 
year having never being given permission to travel to Yangon. 

 Sources close to the talks said that, in contrast to the outspoken 
Lallah, Pinheiro had adopted a non-confrontational approach which won 
plaudits among the notoriously touchy generals in Yangon. 

 During his three-day trip the envoy met top members of the ruling 
junta, including its number-three, Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt. 

 The general has met Aung San Suu Kyi several times over the past six 
months, apparently as part of a confidence-building process that could 
clear the way for their first official dialogue since 1994. 

 The secret talks have raised cautious hopes that the two sides may be 
able to negotiate a power-sharing agreement and a transition to 
democracy that would end a decade of political deadlock. 

 Pinheiro's visit has been welcomed as a sign of the ruling State Peace 
and Development Council's new willingness to begin cooperating with the 
outside world. 

 Diplomats note the trip came ahead of this month's UN general assembly 
on human rights, and after last year's damning resolution by the 
International Labor Organisation which caused deep concern here. 

 During his visit, Pinheiro met Home Affairs Minister Colonel Tin 
Hlaing, Labour Minister Major-General Tin Ngwe and representatives of 
Yangon's business community. 

 His tight agenda included discussions with representatives of the 
ethnic nationalities, whose sanction would be crucial in any transition 
to democracy. 

 On Wednesday the envoy travelled outside the capital to a controversial 
gas pipeline which the junta's critics say has been built at the cost of 
gross human rights violations against local people. 

 The Myanmar regime has been singled out as one of the world's worst 
human rights offenders, responsible for political repression, torture 
and forced labour within its borders. 

 The UN Human Rights Commission last year passed a resolution expressing 
grave concern at the "systematic and increasingly severe" rights 
violations in the country. 





___________________________________________________




AP: Brother of Myanmar opposition leader renews legal battle for her 
house

6 April, 2001

YANGON, Thailand (AP) _ Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, 
who is engaged in sensitive negotiations for reconciliation with the 
country's military rulers, faces a battle on a second front: her brother 
has renewed a legal offensive to lay claim to her home. 

 In January, a Yangon court cited procedural errors in dismissing an 
earlier case brought by her estranged elder brother, Aung San Oo, for 
partitioning their family property. 

 Aung San Oo filed a fresh suit Thursday to claim joint-ownership of the 
property where Suu Kyi has been living since 1988, members of the Yangon 
legal community said Friday on condition of anonymity. 

 They said Aung San Oo's agent and lawyer, Han Toe, had filed the suit 
for administration Thursday at the Yangon Division court and the court 
has set April 23 for the first hearing. 

 Suu Kyi's lawyer Kyi Win told The Associated Press Friday that he had 
heard about the legal filing, but could not get official confirmation. 
Aung San Oo's lawyer in the earlier case, Kyaw Zeya, said he also was 
not aware of the new lawsuit. 

 Aung San Oo, an engineer, is an American citizen living in San Diego, 
California. He is believed to disagree with Suu Kyi's political views, 
which have put her in direct confrontation with Myanmar's military 
rulers in the past. 

 Myanmar is also known as Burma. 

 The junta crushed a pro-democracy uprising in 1988, but did call 
elections in 1990 that were won by Suu Kyi's National League for 
Democracy. However, the generals refused to honor the results and 
imposed severe restrictions on NLD members. 

 Aung San Suu Kyi was the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. 

 The earlier property case, filed last November, was believed to have 
the tacit approval of the government. Its dismissal _ courts in Myanmar 
are controlled by the government _ appeared to show that the junta was 
making an effort to keep the atmosphere conducive for the secret talks 
with Suu Kyi going on since October. Both sides have 
declined to divulge details of the talks. 

 Suu Kyi's lawyer said that the democracy leader was not happy with the 
new lawsuit, saying that her brother's choice to take action through the 
court under the present circumstances ``was not good.'' 

 Suu Kyi has been confined to the house by authorities since Sept. 22 
after she tried to travel outside Yangon to do political organizing. 

 The property under dispute is a nearly one-hectare (two-acre) estate 
with a two-story building which was given by the government to Suu Kyi's 
mother Khin Kyi, widow of independence hero General Aung San who was 
assassinated in 1947. Khin Kyi died in December 1988. 

 Under Burmese Buddhist Law, a claimant must first apply for 
administration of property before applying for its partition. The judge 
gave this as the reason for dismissing the earlier case.




___________________________________________________



Shan Herald Agency for News: Weather and overweight killed Tin Oo?

4 April 2001


According to a Thai Burmese watcher, Rangoon appeared to have concluded  
that the helicopter crash on 19 February that killed 2 top generals was 
due  to adverse weather and overweight, and not through sabotage. 

He said some Russian mechanical experts have arrived since last month to 
 examine all the MI-17 helicopters sold to Rangoon. "Since then, the air 
 force high command has been repeatedly issuing directives to all their  
airbases scattered throughout the country instructing them to pay 
attention  to two things: the weather and not to overload the 
helicopter". 

The unexpected crash on the Salween on 19 February resulted in 9 dead 8  
missing. Among the dead were Lt.-Gen. Tin Oo, No:4 top man, and Maj.-Gen 
 Sit Maung, commander, Southeastern Regional Command. Only 12 survived 
the  crash, among whom was Lt.-Gen Win Myint, Secretary 3.



___________________________________________________



Xinhua: Construction of Myanmar's 3rd Int'l Airport Underway

YANGON, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar laid cornerstones for the 
construction of the building of the Hanthawady International Airport in 
the Bago division on Friday. The Hanthawady International Airport, which 
was situated in Bago, 80 kilometers in the north of the capital of 
Yangon, will be the country's third international airport after the 
Yangon and Mandalay International Airports. Major-General Hla Myint Swe, 
Myanmar minister of transport, said at the ceremony that all the tasks 
will be completed in four years in the construction of the building of 
the airport, which will be able to provide services for 1,000 passengers 
for arrival and 1,000 passengers for departure at the same time. 
Completion of the modern new airport means the opening of another door 
to the international community, he said, pointing out that the tourism 
sector of the state will get huge benefits. There will be conveyor 
belts, escalators, boarding bridges, power generators, sub-power 
stations, emergency fire-fighting systems and security rooms at the 
airport and modern electronic equipment will also be installed in it. 
The Hanthawady International Airport has a runway measuring 3.6 
kilometers in length and 60 meters in width and is designed to withstand 
the weight of Boeing 747-400 aircraft. 

In September last year, the Mandalay International Airport, which is a 
new airport of world class in Myanmar's second largest city of Mandalay 
in northern part, was inaugurated, becoming the second gateway linking 
the country with the outside world after the Yangon International 
Airport. There are 66 airports in Myanmar now with 26 international air 
routes passing through the air territory of the country and planes from 
domestic airlines fly in the air territory about 10,000 times and those 
from international airlines about 60,000 times every year. 



___________________________________________________




Independent Mon News Agency: Child labor used in road construction

April 6, 2001

In Molamein, Mon state, the SPDC is using child labor for the 
construction of the road and they also collected funds for construction 
from people.  

The road they are constructing is in Myai Thar Yar, Monlamein, the city 
of Mon state, Burma and called THA MAIN PARUN road. This road was a 
stone road and now sealing it. For this construction, the SPDC was 
collected funds from people in this road area. From each houses they 
collected 15,000 Kyats.  

They are using child labor, under 16 years of age, because it is cheaper 
than adult labor and they have to pay half of a adult labor earn. An old 
mother, who lives in No.681 hose, near that road, said that children, 
under 16 years of age are being used as laborers. She named Khin Lin, a 
12 year-old boy, whose father rides a tricycle taxi, a 12 year-old boy, 
Naing Win, who attended 4 standards. The Children are earning a bout 150 
kyats per day. Early in the morning the children start work in the 
construction site until midday. After one hour rest, they work until 
sundown every day. These children are not working age, but they are 
working for their family to be a live she added.   
Krak Nai


___________________________________________________




The New Light of Myanmar (SPDC): General Maung Aye receives Lt-Gen 
Watanachi Chimuanwong of Royal Thai Army and party 

Thursday, 5 April, 2001

Yangon, 4 April- Vice-Chairman of the State Peace and Development 
Council Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Commander-in-Chief 
(Army) General Maung Aye received Commanding General of 3rd Army Area of 
Royal Thai Army Lt-Gen Watanachi Chimuanwong and party, who attended the 
18th Meeting of the Myanmar-Thailand Regional Border Committee, at 
Zeyathiri Beikman Tatmadaw Hall of Konmyinttha, here, at 3.30 pm today. 

Also present at the call were Secretary-1 of the State Peace and 
Development Council Chief of the Office of Strategic Studies Director of 
Defence Service Intelligence Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, member of the State 
Peace and Development Council Chairman of Yangon Division Peace and 
Development Council Commander of Yangon Command Maj-Gen Khin Maung Than, 
Chairman of Taninthayi Division Peace and Development Council Commander 
of Coastal Region Command Brig-Gen Aye Kyway, Minister for Foreign 
Affairs U Win Aung, Chief of Staff (Navy) Commodore Soe Thein, Chief of 
Staff (Air) Maj-Gen Myint Swe, Ambassador of Myanmar to Thailand U Myo 
Myint, Director-General of Protocol Department of the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs Thura U Aung Htet, Military Attache of Myanmar to 
Thailand Col Kyaw Han, Ambassador of Thailand to Myanmar Mr Oum Maolanon 
and Military Attache Col Chaiwat Satondee.


___________________________________________________





Muslim Information Centre of Burma: Junta kills Imam of mosque for money 


April, 3, 2001   


On January, 15, 2001, junta?s military officers shot dead an Imam of 
mosque in
Arakan state of Burma.The military officers led by Major  Min Aung Naing 
of
Light Infantry Battalion No. 541 met the Imam, Mr. Noor Hussain ( 42 
years
old), and demanded Ks. 1.5 million the Imam allegedly collected as 
donation
from the  Muslim community for construction of his village mosque in Min 
Bya
township, Sittwe (Akyab) district, Arakan State.The Imam replied that he 
had
had collected only about Ks. 500,000 and it angered the major who shot 
him
dead in the compound of the Imam.The local community jointly put up a 
letter to
Major General Aung Twe , commander of Arakan state.

No action has yet taken against the major. The Imam lived in Sambli 
village, MinBya township, Sittwe district.   





___________________ REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL___________________
				


Reuters: UN envoy sees ``cautious optimism'' in Myanmar

GENEVA, April 6 (Reuters) - The United Nations human rights investigator 
for Myanmar, the first to visit the military-ruled country in five 
years, said on Friday that he had sensed a ``cautious optimism'' among 
government and opposition members. 
 In a speech to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, Paulo Sergio 
Pinheiro called for concrete steps including release of political 
prisoners and allowing basic freedoms of expression. 

 His landmark visit to Myanmar from April 3-5 came amid improving 
relations between the military and pro-democracy opposition and marked 
another sign of rapprocehment between the two sides, according to 
diplomats. 
 But at a news conference in Geneva, he declined to reveal anything 
about his talks with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi except to report 
that she was in ``excellent health.'' 

 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition National 
League for Democracy, has been held under de facto arrest since 
September with access to her strictly controlled. She was released from 
six years of house arrest in 1995. 
 The NLD won Myanmar's last general election in 1990 by a landslide but 
has never been allowed to govern. 

 ``I think that there is a cautious optimism by all parts (parties) that 
something is happening in terms of conversation, talks, dialogue, we may 
use any word because nobody says exactly what is happening. But every 
person that I met conveyed to me this impression,'' Pinheiro told the 
news briefing. 

 ``The government gave me an impression of respect for the opposition, 
all the references were very respectful,'' he added. ``I think the 
moment is very delicate.'' 
 In Yangon he met the powerful Secretary One of the ruling State Peace 
and Development Council, Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, Foreign Minister 
Win Aung, and a range of diplomats. 

 NEW PHASE 

 Pinheiro, in his speech to the 53-nation U.N. rights forum, holding its 
annual six-week session in Geneva, said: ``I believe that the country is 
currently about to enter a new phase which the Commission on Human 
Rights and the international community must acknowledge and act upon. 

 ``The present juncture requires a search for (a) consistent approach, 
with emphasis on dialogue, allowing different actors both those within 
and outside the country, to work towards the same goal despite eventual 
differences,'' he added. 

 ``I am convinced that the best hopes for governance reforms in Myanmar 
require a mix of long-term strategies and immediate steps. Among those 
steps, as I conveyed to the government, are the freedom of expression 
and assembly, the early release of political prisoners, liberalisation 
of the media space and strengthening of the civil society and the right 
to participation in public life.'' 

 He specifically called for the release of prisoners who are old, 
mentally ill or whose sentences have already expired. 

 ``I must recognise that the government was perfect, extremely 
courteous, professional and I met everybody that I wanted to in the 
government and in the opposition, from the National League for 
Democracy,'' Pinheiro told the news briefing. 

 ``There are some positive initiatives by the government,'' he said, 
referring to a national Human Rights Committee. 

 Pinheiro, a professor at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, 
succeeded Rajsoomer Lallah last December as U.N. special rapporteur on 
the situation of human rights in Myanmar. 
 Lallah, a former chief justice of Mauritius was never allowed to visit 
during his four years in the independent post. 
 Pinheiro said he hoped to return to Myanmar later this year. 



___________________________________________________



AP: Activists appeal for release of elderly Myanmar detainee 

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) _ Activists appealed Friday for Myanmar's ruling 
military to release an imprisoned 83-year old supporter of opposition 
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a statement said. 

 Saw Mra Aung, who was elected to parliament in 1990 general elections 
the results of which were ignored by the military, has been detained 
since 1998, said Altsean, a Thailand-based non-governmental group that 
campaigns for democracy in Myanmar, also known as Burma. 

 Altsean accused the Myanmar regime of holding the world's ``oldest 
political prisoner.'' 

 The group said Saw Mra Aung would be 93 this April. Election records 
incorrectly show his date of birth as 1908. His family in Myanmar said 
he is actually 83. 

 The appeal for his release was delivered by Altsean to a session of the 
United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva on Thursday, the 
statement said. 

 It follows the first visit by a U.N. human rights rapporteur to Myanmar 
in five years, amid signs the government wants to improve its 
international reputation. 

 In recent months, it has freed more than 100 members of Suu Kyi's 
National League for Democracy, after secret talks began between Suu Kyi 
and the regime, offering hope of reconciliation after a decade of 
political deadlock. 

 The NLD swept the 1990 elections. In September 1998 it founded an 
alternative parliamentary committee because the military ignored its 
demands to convene Parliament. Saw Mra Aung was elected president of the 
committee after his arrest in April that year. 

 The establishment of the committee was a direct challenge to the 
legitimacy of the regime, which has since detained dozens of opposition 
election-winners, mostly from the NLD. 

 The government contends that Saw Mra Aung and the other detainees are 
not prisoners as they are held at state ``guest houses'' where officials 
reportedly try to persuade them to resign from the party. The family 
says Saw Mra Aung can visit them at home every two weeks. 

 Saw Mra Aung had won a parliamentary seat in Mrauk Mrauk-Oo 
constituency in western Arakan State in the 1990 elections but his 
party, the Arakan League for Democracy, was banned by the government in 
1992. 

 In October, the government released six ``elderly'' prisoners from 
jail, four of them more than 70 years old, at the request of another 
U.N. envoy. 

 According to a recent U.S. State Department report, there are more than 
1,800 political prisoners in Myanmar, many of them NLD supporters. 
Altsean said that the regime was still holding 42 political prisoners 
who have served their full jail sentences.  






___________________________________________________





The Hindu (New Delhi): Myanmarese refugees not ready to return

April 4, 2001 

By Our Correspondent 

IMPHAL, APRIL 3. Members of the All-Burma Students' League and 
pro-democracy activists who fled to Manipur in 1988 are not in undue 
haste to go back to Myanmar. eaders of these activists told TheHindu 
recently that most of those who chose to return were ``killed'' while 
others were incarcerated on trumped up charges. Apart from tudents, 
there were nine doctors, two veterinarians, three engineers, seven MPs 
and 20 teachers among the refugees.  

The Indian Government had opened a refugee camp at Moreh, a border town, 
to lodge them. A majority of them had, however, gone to Mizoram. The 
students have enrolled in schools and colleges in and around Imphal. 
Some of the professionals are working for a pittance.  

Dr. Aung Kyaw Oo, was a private practioner in Myanmar. He could not get 
a Government job simply because his parents were Communists. He is in 
charge of health and education of the activists of the All Burma 
Students' Democratic Front, western Burma. He is running an improvised 
``clinic'' in Moreh where poor Myanmarese nationals come for treatment. 
It is a ramshackle two- room house. With a tin roof. It has a clinical 
table and three small wooden beds with faded linens. Dr. Oo told this 
correspondent that the poor patients give him pumpkins, sweet potatoes 
and rice. The costliest item he has so far received is a rooster. Most 
of the time he has to pay up to enable the patients to buy medicines.  

Mr. Ko Myo, in charge of the Moreh branch of the All Burma Students' 
League regrets that India and other countries are not helping them in 
the struggle for restoration of democracy in Myanmar.Initially, the 
refugees were lodged in a newly- constructed house at Moreh. But Burmese 
intelligence and Army personnel sneaked into Moreh with the common 
traders and threatened the refugees.  

The Government then shifted the refugees to a new camp 50 km inside 
Manipur.  
The students and pro-democracy activists frequently take out processions 
at Moreh to demand restoration of democracy in their country. `Friends 
of Burma,' also organises meetings and demonstrations in and around 
Imphal raising the same demand.    

 

_______________ ECONOMY AND BUSINESS _______________
 


 
Reuters: Daewoo Int to supply Myanmar $150 mln oil, products

SEOUL, April 6 (Reuters) - South Korea's Daewoo International 
(47050.KS), a distribution firm, said on Friday it had won a $150 
million order to supply Myanmar with crude oil and petroleum products. 
 Daewoo International will supply a total of 4.3 million barrels of 
crude oil and petroleum products to a state-run Myanmar Petrochemical 
Enterprise until March in 2002, the company said in a statement. 
 To provide the supply, Daewoo will purchase crude oil from state-run 
Petronas of Malaysia and and gasoline from a Singaporean petroleum 
company, it said. 
 Daewoo said it was targeting to post $360 million earnings from the 
trilateral-trade this year, up from $330 million in 2000. 
 Myanmar, which started the trade with Daewoo in 1997, buys from Daewoo 
International 100 percent of gasoline and 70 percent of crude oils that 
the country needs, it said. 

 Shares of Daewoo International had risen 100 won ($0.742) to 1,380 on 
Friday morning.   ($1-1,347.0 Won) 



___________________________________________________






Shan Herald Agency for News: Village headmen arrested for failure to 
fill rice quota

4 April 2001



3 village headmen were arrested and imprisoned in Hsipaw on 20 March for 
 failure by their villagers to fill the rice procurement quota, said the 
 source form northern Shan State.

They were Zang Hsu, Zaykharn village; Ai Parn In, Nalaw village; and Ai 
Pi,  Na-oong village. All were detained by the order of U Maung Sein, 
Customs  Officer and U Ngwe Taik, Township Officer.

According to the source, their arrests had caused much outrage among the 
 villagers.

Rangoon's exorbitant rice quota, 8 baskets per acre at K. 300 per 
basket,  had resulted in protest by the farmers in Hsihseng Township in 
southern  Shan State on 15 January.


_______________OPINION/EDITORIALS_________________






ALTSEAN-BURMA: Oldest Political Prisoner


Oral intervention to the UN commission on Human Rights
Item 11:Civil and Political Rights
(Delivered by Deborah Stothard, April 5, 2001)

Owing to time constraints, content in [ ] will not be delivered 
Mr. Chairman,

I speak on behalf of Aliran Kesedaran Negara.

I come from Southeast Asia, where there is an apparent obsession for  
breaking records. For example, Malaysia delights in boasting of the 
highest  tower, tallest flagpole, longest serving Prime Minister, most 
farcical  trial, etc etc.

Unfortunately in Burma, the military regime has so impoverished the 
country  they cannot afford to build gigantic structures. Instead, they 
aspire to  the record of having the oldest political prisoner.

I am of course referring to Dr U Saw Mra Aung, elected Member of 
Parliament  for Mrauk-U (1) constituency [in Arakan State]. Dr Saw Mra 
Aung was born on  April 23, 1908; he will become 93 years old during 
this session of the  Commission [on Human Rights]. In October, the 
regime released six elderly  political prisoners at the request of Mr. 
Razali Ismail, the UN  Secretary-General's Special Envoy [on Myanmar]. 
Dr Saw Mra Aung was not  included in this group. Perhaps the regime 
assumes that "ancient" is not  the same as "elderly"! Dr Saw Mra Aung, 
who is also the Chairman of the  Arakan League for Democracy, has been 
detained in a military camp outside  Rangoon since 1998.

The Burmese regime is also eligible for the record of detaining 
political  prisoners after they have completed their sentences. As we 
sit here in the  Commission, 42 human beings that have already served 
the full extent of  their jail sentences, continue to be unlawfully 
imprisoned. It is  horrendous that these individuals, having been 
unjustly sentenced in the  first place, are still in detention!

[Of this group,] I wish to highlight the situation of student leader, 
Min  Ko Naing. Min Ko Naing continues to be held under harrowing 
conditions in  Sittwe jail [in Arakan State]. In 1989, he was sentenced 
to 20 years'  imprisonment; [this was] later commuted to 10 years under 
a general  amnesty. Min Ko Naing was supposed to be a free man two years 
ago but he  continues to be held under conditions that may have 
permanently disabled him. 

[Amnesty International reports that Min Ko Naing was severely tortured 
and  ill-treated during the early stages of his detention and his health 
has  suffered as a consequence.]
Why keep him and the others any longer? Hasn't the regime sufficiently  
tortured and punished them and their loved ones?

Mr Chairman, owing to constraints of time, I will refrain from speaking 
of  the hundreds of political prisoners, harsh prison conditions, the  
detentions without trial, the sorry state of the judicial system, 
religious  intolerance and the raging impunity being perpetrated in 
Burma. I depend on  the fact that the members and observers of the 
Commission have done  sufficient reading of UN and other documents to 
grasp the seriousness of  the situation.

Mr. Chairman and respected members of the Commission, I urge you to use 
all  means at your disposal to ensure that Burma's government releases 
all  political prisoners, including those who are sick, who have 
completed their  sentences, the aged, and the ethnic nationality 
leaders. Further, that the  government acknowledges and upholds all the 
civil and political rights of  the peoples of Burma. The government 
should be reminded that pursuing the  record of largest number of 
political prisoners, largest number of  internally displaced people, 
largest number of youth excluded from  education, and so on, is actually 
not something to be proud of. 
The country of Burma celebrates the Buddhist New Year in two weeks' 
time.  It is a tradition that people release birds and fish in order to 
gain merit. The Burmese  regime should realize that releasing people, 
instead of birds and fish  would gain them infinitely more merit.




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