PULL THEM OUT

Rebel vigil talks with Myanmar

Foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon led the Indian side to the ninth round of foreign office consultations over the past weekend. Myanmar deputy foreign minister U. Kyaw Thu led the other delegation in Yangon.
The matter of Northeast insurgents using Myanmar to smuggle arms into India has come up regularly at diplomatic exchanges.
Recently, the Jane’s Intelligence Review, a magazine on security affairs, reported that China had replaced Cambodia and Thailand as the main supplier of weapons to the insurgent groups.
The report said the United Wa State Army, a rebel group in Myanmar, acted the “middleman” between the Chinese arms manufacturers and militant groups in India’s northeast. Most of the weapons were routed through China’s Yunnan province.
In 2004, Myanmar had launched an operation against the insurgents based near its border with Thailand.
The foreign office meeting also welcomed decisions taken during joint trade committee in October, a ministry statement said.

Myanmar Promises Cooperation in Curbing Insurgent Activities

Heeding to India's concerns over northeast insurgents taking shelter in Myanmar, the military government of the neighbouring country has promised to cooperate in combating the problem.
India also announced a waiver of the ban on wheat export to Myanmar for 950 tonnes and entered into a long-term arrangement for purchase of pulses from it.
At the Foreign Office consultations, the two sides discussed ways to enhance bilateral cooperation, particularly in security and border issues, trade and economy, energy, power and IT.
At the two-day talks, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon headed the Indian delegation while Myanmar's Deputy Foreign Minister U Kyaw Thu led his country's side.
"Both countries stressed the need for greater vigilance at the border and agreed to enhance security cooperation to combat insurgent groups and arms smuggling," said a joint press release issued after the meeting in Yangon.
India has been concerned over the northeast insurgents taking shelter in Myanmar and has been asking Yangon to cooperate in flushing them out.
At the meeting, the two sides agreed on a long-term arrangement under which India will purchase pulses from Myanmar, the release said.
They also welcomed the decisions reached at the 3rd Joint Trade Committee held last month, which included conversion of Indo-Myanmar border trade into normal trade, opening of the border point at Avakhung in Nagaland and expanding the existing border trade items from 22 to 40.
The two countries appreciated the strengthening of cooperation in the areas of energy and oil and natural gas.
They expressed satisfaction at the recent signing of an MoU on the development of Tamanthi and Swezay Hydropower projects on the Chindwin river in Myanmar.
Other projects in the power sector include the renovation of the Tahtaychaung Hydropower project, construction of transmission lines, replacement of transformers damaged during cyclone Nargis, supply of biomass gasifiers and solar lamps.

Myanmar suffers steep drop in foreign tourists

Myanmar - A Myanmar news journal says foreign tourist numbers are down by half at one of the country's most revered Buddhist sites after the country was hit by a devastating cyclone in May that killed more than 84,000 people.

The Weekly Eleven news journal says foreign tourists visiting the famed Shwedagon pagoda fell to 25,380 during May through November compared with 53,841 in the same period last year.
The tourism sector across the impoverished country has been hit hard following Cyclone Nargis in May. The storm killed 84,537, left another 53,836 people missing, and caused a vast trail of destruction across the Irrawaddy delta.
The military has held authoritarian power in the Southeast Asian nation since 1962.

“Pull Them Out With Tweezers”

Despite their crucial role in assisting survivors of Cyclone Nargis, local aid groups in Burma have become the target of an ongoing crackdown on activities deemed inimical to the interests of the country’s ruling regime. Twenty-two volunteer aid workers have been arrested in connection with their relief work in the Irrawaddy delta, where the cyclone struck on May 2-3.
Recently, six of the detained volunteers—Zarganar, Zaw Thet Htwe, Ein Khaing Oo, Tin Maung Aye, Thant Zin Aung and Kyaw Kyaw Thint—received lengthy prison sentences for their efforts on behalf of victims of the disaster.
Of this group, Zarganar is undoubtedly the best known in Burma. He is the country’s most popular satirist, noted for directing his acerbic wit at the generals who have ruled for the past two decades. Last Friday, he was sentenced to 45 years’ imprisonment for criticizing the regime’s response to the humanitarian disaster in the delta.
The comedian was arrested in June while contributing to the spontaneous private relief effort that stepped in to fill the vacuum left by the authorities, who were more interested in going ahead with a referendum on a constitution designed to legitimize military rule.
It would be an understatement to say that the regime did not appreciate the efforts of ordinary citizens who came to the rescue of those less fortunate than themselves. Fearing that dissident groups would take advantage of the situation to foment unrest, the junta soon moved to clamp down on unauthorized do-gooders.
“The military government doesn’t allow any opposition groups to operate [in the cyclone-affected area] or exert influence,” said Aung Thu Nyein, a researcher from the Thailand-based Vahu Development Institute. He added that the ruling generals would not tolerate anyone who reminded them of their failure to help their own suffering people.
It came as no surprise, then, that the authorities were quick to arrest Zaganar, who has been an agitator for change since the nationwide uprising against military rule in 1988.
Imprisoned in 1990 for four years, he has nonetheless continued to challenge the junta’s right to rule. Last year, when thousands of monks gathered to protest the regime’s policies, he was one of their most outspoken supporters.
In the wake of Cyclone Nargis, Zarganar was critical not only of the junta, but also of the United Nations. “I am not happy with the UN,” he said in an interview with The Irrawaddy. “Why are they so concerned with the government’s endorsement of their relief work? They should have taken more risks.”
Others agree that the international response to the regime’s abuses leaves a great deal to be desired.
Describing the jailing of Zarganar as “a cruel joke on the Burmese people,” Brad Adams, the Asia director of the New York-based Human Rights Watch, added that it was “a bigger joke on those abroad who still think ignoring repression in Burma will bring positive change.”
Although the UN says that it hopes to “build trust” with the regime through cooperation in the relief effort, local and international NGO workers in Burma say that the ongoing crackdown on volunteers shows that the junta is more interested in maintaining control than in helping people.
“The government’s imprisonment of humanitarian aid workers sends the message that Burmese social organizations must follow the junta’s regulations whether they like it or not,” said a Rangoon-based social worker.
While private donors and humanitarian aid workers face arrest and imprisonment for acting on their own initiative, government-backed organizations like the Union Solidarity and Development Association are free to coordinate with international aid agencies, providing them with access to resources and opportunities to profit from the relief effort.
Despite his long history of persecution at the hands of the authorities (which included a three-week stint in jail last year for making public offerings to protesting monks), Zarganar has shown no signs of bowing to his oppressors.
Perhaps this is because his stage name is taken from a Burmese slogan that was popular during the struggle against British colonial rule: “If you have hairs that stand up when you are afraid, pull them out with tweezers.”
Zarganar (“tweezers” in Burmese) knows better than most that the only way to confront your fears is by plucking them out at their roots.