Dissidents Reject Junta Terror Accusations

Two prominent anti-regime groups from Burma have rejected the accusations that appeared in a state-run newspaper on Thursday that accuses them of planning a bombing campaign in the former capital, Rangoon.

The Karen rebel group, the Karen National Union (KNU), and an exiled NGO based in Thailand, the Burma Lawyers' Council (BLC), said the accusations are baseless and untrue.

Citing a news report by the Ministry of Home Affairs, pro-junta daily The New Light of Myanmar reported on Thursday that Burmese security forces had arrested 11 men who they believe are terrorists and accused most of them of having contacts with anti-regime groups.

According to the report, “Terrorist insurgents are hatching evil plots to hinder and jeopardize peace, stability and development of the nation and democratization process.” It went on to say that “terrorist insurgents” had infiltrated villages and wards “in various disguises to commit terrorist acts” and said the accused wanted to derail this year's election and the democratic process.

The report said that the 11 “bombers,” led by Kyaw Zay Lin (aka Ko Hsai), were captured following his arrest on Jan. 22 at his book shop in Kontalapaung village in Mingaladon Township in Rangoon. It said security forces discovered and seized some homemade mines, 43 detonators, a .32 pistol, one magazine, 33 rounds of ammunition, one satellite phone, a remote-control system and various other material condusive to explosives work.

In addition to a bombing last year in Rangoon, the report said those arrested had been planning further explosions in industrial zones and were also targeting security personnel.

It said that prime suspect Kyaw Zay Lin had joined and served the BLC in Mae Sot in Thailand and attended a “political defiant course [sic]” and an “explosives course.”

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, the chairman of the BLC, Thein Oo, said, “This accusation is groundless. It is intended to defame the BLC.” He said that Kyaw Zay Lin had not worked for the BLC and that they did not know him.

He said that the Burmese regime wanted to misinform the international community and neighboring countries because the lawyers' group has attempted to indict junta leaders at the International Criminal Court.

“The BLC does not use such violent ways,” Thein Oo said. “We will fight Burma's military dictators with laws.”

The Burma Lawyers' Council, formed in 1994, is an independent organization based on the Thai-Burmese border. The military junta has denounced the BLC as an unlawful association and accused it of violating the rule of Burmese law. An arrest warrant was issued for BLC General Secretary Aung Htoo in May 2009.

Representatives of the BLC attended the Nov 18-26 meeting of the Assembly of State Parties to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to discuss the Burmese military government's alleged crimes against humanity, war crimes and other human rights abuses.

The New Light of Myanmar report also accused the KNU of being responsible for a bomb blast during Karen New Year celebrations in Papun in Karen State on Dec. 16, killing 7 persons and injuring 12.

Zipporah Sein, the general secretary of the KNU, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that the report is “totally untrue” and that the Burmese military junta is “the real terrorist.”

“In fact, the the military junta is the real terrorist in Burma––they burn down villages, destroy houses, kill people and rape women,” she said.

Human rights groups and Burma observers have long held that such abuses by Burmese government forces were rife, especially in ethnic villages in eastern Burma.

The KNU, founded in 1947, has been fighting for more than six decades for autonomy from the central Burmese government. It did not sign a cease-fire agreement with the Burmese regime unlike 17 other armed ethnic groups.

“As the Burmese government is moving toward its general election in 2010, they are trying to divide and abolish the KNU and other ethnic groups,” said Zipporah Sein. “By any means they can, the Burmese authorities are trying to get international organizations to stop supporting the KNU and and other ethnic groups.”

The Burmese Ministry of Home Affairs report also accused the Karenni rebel group, the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP). No spokesperson from the KNPP was available on Thursday for comment when The Irrawaddy enquired.