Burma News International

 

Date: January 20, 2005

 

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(1) Second call to form advisory council

(2) Malaysia police arrest Chin protestors demonstrating before Burma embassy

(3) Bangladesh conditions jolt Burma-India gas pipeline project

(4) Thai authorities arrests picnickers from Mae Hla refugee camp (In Burmese)*

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* For Burmese Language Stories please visit www.bnionline.net

 

Second call to form advisory council

===========================

S.H.A.N, January 20, 2005

 

Two weeks after the Shan State Army "North" had broached the subject,

a hitherto little known group from Burma's largest state has presented

a 13-page proposal to the country's military government, according to

sources from the northern border:

 

Myohsetthit Shan Pyi (New Generation - Shan State) suggests on 10

December members of the said council should be chosen from people

outside the military government, opposition parties and armed

organizations. "Successive military governments .. have been unable to

differentiate between (genuine) politicians and those who makes a

living on politics," reads the paper. (It's time the government) join

hands with politicians who have stood out for national politics up to

this day with a sense of devotion to their country."

 

The paper blames successive governments since 1962 (the year the

military took power) for steadfastly practising a divide and rule

policy that in time gave rise to a lack of trust even among the ruling

power and culminated in the October purge.

 

"In the democratic culture, there is no enemy, only opposition," it

maintains, explaining at length that one does not necessarily becomes

an enemy because one is not in the same party.

 

The authors also comment on the 1990 general elections. While

conceding that it could be "classified as an utterly fair and

impartial election when measured with a global ruler," it argues that

for the non-Burman states, it failed to represent them. "(They) aspire

to determine their own destiny." However, their aspirations were

thwarted when "a big political party from Burma Proper" took advantage

in the state constituencies, while the right to vote was banned

in "black areas" where most armed resistance movements were still

fighting against the government and had yet to conclude truce pacts

with Rangoon until a year earlier.

 

Accordingly, parties representing the states won less than 15% of the

total seats.

 

The paper followed a similar proposal by Shan State Army "North" on 25

November to Rangoon through Maj Gen Myint Hlaing, Commander of Lashio-

based Northeastern Region Command.

 

The group's leader U Myint Than "Maths" of Taunggyi was later invited

to Rangoon to make out his case, said a source. "Actually, it was

written at the request from the authorities," the source told

S.H.A.N.. "But since then we have yet to hear anything, either

official or unofficial.”

 

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Malaysia police arrest Chin protestors demonstrating before Burma

embassy

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Khonumthung News Group

Aizawl 19 January 2005

 

One-hundred-sixty-four Chin protestors who launched a peaceful

demonstration Jan. 17 against religious persecution by the Burma

Military regime in front of the Burma embassy in Kuala Lumpur,

Malaysia, were arrested by Malaysian police.

"We came out to protest against the Military regime's aggressive

oppression of minority groups such as Christians and Muslims.

Particularly, we would like to highlight that military authorities

damaged a cross erected on a hilltop in Matupi township, Burma, so

international communities will be aware of it and put pressure on the

Burmese regime," explained a Chin activist currently in Malaysia.

 

"As soon as we heard the news that a cross in Matupi Township was

damaged by Burma Military authorities, we all felt so sad," he

continued. "We fasted and prayed to God for that. Eventually, we could

not be satisfied with it and launched the protest."

 

Protesters came from Kuala lampur by one bus and Putra jaya by two

buses, and held a non-violent demonstration at 8 a.m. before the Burma

embassy. After 40 minutes, Malaysian polices took protesters to Pudu

jail in Kuala Lumpur by lorry car and they have been detained there.

 

Most detainees are reportedly from Matupi Township and 40 from Mindat

Township in Chin state, Burma. Of these, only one activist is legally

recognized as a Burmese refugee by the Malaysia UNHCR office.

 

It was heard that no official from the United Nations High Commission

for Refugee office in Malaysia had gone to see the on the ground

situation of detainees in jail but requested the Chin Refugees

Committee in Malaysia to enquire into the situation.

 

A Chin activist keeping watch on the condition of protestors detained

in Jail said he lost all contact with them at 8 p.m. on Jan. 18 when

the only way to keep in touch with them, a handphone used by

protesters, was taken away by Malaysia police on duty in the jail. He

worried about their fate, that they might be facing possible threat of

being deported to Burma since they are illegal workers.

 

However, there has been no organization up to now to help and come to

the rescue of the Burmese protesters, freeing those currently detained

in jail till.

 

In order to achieve peaceful demonstrations successfully against the

Burma Military regime's religious persecution, Burma activists

urgently formed the Young Men Chin Christian Association in Putra jaya

Jan. 3 following the damaging of the cross in Matupi township.

 

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Bangladesh conditions jolt Burma-India gas pipeline project

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Nava Thakuria /Mizzima News

January 19, 2005

 

Guwahati: The much hyped tri-nation gas project, which would enable

energy-hungry India to import gas from Burma across Bangladeshi

territory, has received a primary jolt. The Bangladeshi government has

placed conditions on its signing of the gas pipeline deal.

The deal was made clear by Bangladesh State Minister for Energy and

Mineral Resources A. K. M. Mosharraf Hossain. Without fulfilling their

conditions, Dhaka will not sign the trans-boundary project.

 

Addressing journalists in Dhaka, Hossain, who joined in talks with his

Indian and Burmese counterparts last week, stressed that the Begum

Khaleda Zia-led government would not sign the deal with India and

Burma unless India agreed to sign a bilateral agreement with

Bangladesh.

 

“We will not sign the tripartite deal without the bilateral one with

India,” said Hossain, who had already discussed the matter with Prime

Minister Khaleda Zia.

 

After the tri-nation talks ended on a positive note in Rangoon on Jan.

19, the government in Dhaka reiterated its request for a final

agreement with India to have overland access to hydroelectricity

generated in Nepal and Bhutan, as well as trade routes for commodities

between Bangladesh and the two Himalayan kingdoms.

 

Bangladesh has been requesting this overland access for many years,

though India has not responded positively. But Dhaka is now

reiterating its demand after initially agreeing to lay a 290-km

pipeline from gas fields in Burma to India through Bangladesh. The

pipeline would run through Arakan state in Burma via the Indian states

of Mizoram and Tripura before crossing Bangladesh to Kolkata.

 

Taking advantage of India’s need for natural gas, the Bangladesh

government has also argued for a decrease in the trade imbalance

between the two countries. India imports around  $100 million worth of

products from Bangladesh, while Bangladesh imports over $1,400 million

worth  from their giant neighbour.

 

Prior to the trilateral agreement, Dhaka had requested a bilateral

agreement to be signed with New Delhi that would enable Bangladesh to

increase trade with Bhutan and Nepal.

“They (India and Burma) want to do it (the gas pipeline project)

immediately, but we’re not in a hurry. Our point is to get the

bilateral one first,” Hossain affirmed.

 

***End***

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Burma News International is a network of nine exiled media groups

such as Mizzima News, Shan Herald Agency for News, Kao Wao News Group,

Khonumthung News Group, Narinjara News, Kaladan Press Network,

Independent Mon News Agency, Karenni Information

Network Group and Network Media Group.

 

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