The global signature campaign for the release of Burma’s political prisoners has got off to a flying start. On the first day of the campaign a new person signed the worldwide online petition every fifteen seconds.

Burma Political Prisoner Campaign – Signature Every 15 Seconds

The campaign aims to collect 888,888 signatures before 24 May 2009, the legal date that Nobel Peace Prize winner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi should be released from house arrest.

The petition calls on the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to make it his personal priority to secure the release of all political prisoners in Burma, as the essential first step towards national reconciliation and democratization in the country. The target symbolises 8.8.88, the day the junta massacred some 3,000 people who courageously protested in Burma’s largest democracy uprising.

“The regime has jailed thousands of political prisoners because it wants the world to forget them,” said Anna Roberts, Director of the Burma Campaign UK. “Already there is a clear message to Ban Ki-moon, you must make securing the release of Burma’s political prisoners your top priority.”

The number of political prisoners has doubled in the past two years. Many are kept in appalling conditions, and denied medical access.

The online petition can be signed at: http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/index.php/burma/campaigns/political-prisoners

Thank you for signing the petition

Pics Anti-Dictatorship movement by Niknayman

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/niknayman.niknayman/AntiDictatorshipMovementInBurmaOnBurmaSHumanRightsDay#5313192134255261826

Salute for the Activists

Burma to Fence Border with Bangladesh

Maungdaw: The Burmese military government is now preparing to fence its border with Bangladesh to prevent human trafficking between the two countries, said an official from Maungdaw on the condition of anonymity.
“Many soldiers arrived in northern Maungdaw bringing a lot of barbed wire fence to the western Burmese border with Bangladesh. I think the project will be implemented very soon,” the official said.

Over 200 soldiers arrived at Kyin Chaung Village in northern Maungdaw Township to implement the project. At the same time, a large amount of barbed wire has been transported to Maungdaw from Sittwe on cargo ships to use in the construction of the fence.

A townsperson from Maungdaw said, “I saw much barbed wire piled up at the Kyin Gan Byin Jetty in Maungdaw that was brought there by four cargo ships. Large amounts of barbed wire is being transported to Maungdaw by cargo ships.”

The barbed wire has been transported and distributed from the jetty to Nasaka Areas 1 and 2, which are very close to Bangladesh in the north of Maungdaw.

“Our government will fence its lands from Maungdaw Township to Paletwa township near the triangle area among Burma, Bangladesh, and India,” the official said.

Even though the Burmese military government is preparing to fence its border with barbed wire to prevent human trafficking, the authorities have yet to officially make any announcements about the project.

Many people are traveling across the Burma – Bangladesh border without permission, and the Burmese authorities intend to curb such unauthorized movements with the barbed wire fence on the border. http://www.narinjara.com/

Myanmar envoy to return to army

Sun, Mar 15th, 2009 8:09 pm BdST
Dhaka, Mar 15 (bdnews24.com)–A senior army officer, serving as ambassador to Myanmar, was ordered back to the army Sunday, the government said.

Maj Gen Abu Rushd Rokonuddowlah was sent to Yangon by the emergency government.

An establishment ministry circular said the general would now report to the Armed Forces Division.

A retired brigadier general, A K Mohammad Ali, was made chief executive of the state-run Bangladesh Muktijoddha Kalyan Trust. He will be managing director for two years, the ministry said.

Another army officer, Col M H Salah Uddin, was deputed to the PMO for appointment as director of National Security Intelligence.

Junior army officers serving in civil administration were also shuffled. Major Mustain Zahir, an ACC director, and Major Khairul Quadir, of Bangladesh Survey directorate, will return to the army. Major Tuhin Mohammad Masud of the army will become an ACC director.

bdnews24.com/mk/mt/2011h.

Thai university to offer scholarships to Myanmar students

YANGON, March 15 (Xinhua) — The Rangsit University of Thailand will hold a seminar in Yangon along with its university entrance examination to select Myanmar students who deserve scholarships, the local weekly Voice reported Sunday.

The seminar will take place on March 21 at the Park royal Hotel and two scholarships will be awarded each for five majoring subjects — International Business, Information and Communication Technology, Communication Arts, Philosophy, Politics and Economics and International Hospitality Management.

The Rangsit University is the fifth leading university in Thailand having interchange programs with 50 universities from European, American and Asian countries which the scholarship winning students can select for their further study, the report said.

Meanwhile, the New Zealand government will also provide scholarships to pre-graduate Myanmar university students to help develop the country’s human resources, an earlier report said. continue http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/15/content_11013779.htm

WHO;S gonna studdy there? Why we don,t change the illegal Goverment to give all of them a chance….

THE CRUELEST dictatorships, like the most ruthless criminal gangs, always have understood that the most effective way to deter opposition is to go after the innocent loved ones of potential enemies

Thus it was not enough for Gen. Than Shwe and his junta in the Southeast Asian nation of Burma (also known as Myanmar) to sentence the Buddhist monk U Gambira to prison for 68 years last fall. It was learned last week that his brother, his brother-in-law and four cousins have been sentenced to five years in Burma’s gloomy prisons. We hope that this small piece of data is fed into the review of U.S. policy on Burma that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has promised.

U Gambira, 28 at the time, was a leader of the nonviolent protests that broke out in Burma in September 2007. Thousands of Burmese followed him and other monks in peaceful protest against one of the world’s most brutal dictatorships, despite understanding the possible consequences. U Gambira himself, in an op-ed published in The Post on Nov. 4, 2007 — the day, as it happened, of his arrest after weeks on the run — said that he understood the risks he was taking. “It matters little if my life or the lives of colleagues should be sacrificed on this journey,” he wrote. “Others will fill our sandals, and more will join and follow.” We can only guess whether he understood that even his uninvolved relatives would be victimized. continue
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/14/AR2009031401474.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns

21st Burma HumanRights Day held in tokyo-japan 13-3-2009. Honor to phone maw and all who lost their lives & humanrights in myanmar(burma).

Thanks to peaceful walking http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/peacefulwalking/21ANNIVERSARYOFBURMAHUMANRIGHTSDAY2009MARCH13#

2009 3 13hun#2

Myanmar8888(21st Burma HumanRights Day13-3-2009/tokyo-Japan)

21st Burma HumanRights Day held in tokyo-japan 13-3-2009. Honor to phone maw and all who lost their lives & humanrights in myanmar(burma).

Voice of Burma March 15 2009 scribd Burmese

http://www.scribd.com/doc/13283137/VOB701KK