Day: February 3, 2012

Mahn Nyein Maung ,Top Karen leader facing treason charge

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By Aye Nai | 3 February 2012 | DVB 

A top Karen National Union leader appeared in court yesterday on charges of unlawful association and treason, only three weeks after the Burmese government agreed to a ceasefire with its long-time foe.

Mahn Nyein Maung was brought to a courtroom inside the compounds of Rangoon’s notorious Insein prison where hundreds of political prisoners have been tried over the years. If found guilty of treason, he faces a possible death sentence or life imprisonment.

His lawyer, Kyi Myint, said that judges yesterday heard two prosecution statements, including one from a police investigator. Both charges stem from his role in the KNU, which has been battling the Burmese government for more than six decades – originally the group was fighting for an independent state, although it now calls for a federalised Burma. Continue reading “Mahn Nyein Maung ,Top Karen leader facing treason charge” →

Zomi Re-unification Organization (ZRO),not offered peace talks

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New Delhi (Mizzima) – The Burmese government has yet to extend a peace talk offer to the Zomi Re-unification Organization (ZRO), which is fighting for ethnic Zomi national autonomy.

Troops of the Zomi Revolutionary Army Photo: ZogamTroops of the Zomi Revolutionary Army. Photo: Zogam

The government has offered peace talks to the Chin National Front and the Arakan Liberation Party, which also  operate on the India-Burma-Bangladesh border, but they have not yet extended such an offer to the ZRO, Min Thang, an official in its New Delhi office, toldMizzima.

Explaining the lack of an offer, he said, “We don’t attack”  Burma in an armed struggle for ethnic rights. “We are supporting the objectives of the NLD from India by supporting Aung San Suu Kyi on her democratic path,” he said.

The Manipur State-based ZRO was formed in the Pha Pyin region under the control of the Kachin Independence Organization in 1993. It says it has a 1,000-man   army, which is led by current chairman Pu Thang Lian Pau.

Thang Lian Pau is a former secretary of the Zomi National Congress and is also an MP-elect from the 1990 general election.

Zomi nationals live in Tamu, Kalay, the Kabaw valley and Chin State in Burma, India and Bangladesh.

“We bear arms for our security,” said Min Thang. “We fight through nonviolent means also, but we think nonviolence means is not workable so we hold arms for self-defense and for accomplishing our goal of Zomi re-unification.”

At the a meeting with ZRO officials on December 17, 2010, Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram said he appreciated ZRO efforts to maintain regional peace for democracy in Burma, according to a statement issued by the ZRO Information and Public Relations Department.