Junta-Backed Thugs Continue Attacks on Opposition

By MIN LWIN
The Irrawaddy

A protester faces members of the pro-junta Swan Ar Shin militia during demonstrations in September 2007 (Photo: Thierry Falise)
As Burma prepares for a referendum on a constitution drafted by the country’s military rulers, activists and members of the main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), have come under increasing attacks from junta-backed thugs.

The latest incident occurred around 7:30 on Monday evening, when Myint Hlaing, 74, the NLD chairman for Rangoon’s Hlaing Tharyar Township, was assaulted near his home. According to sources, he was hospitalized after an unknown attacker inflicted a two-inch cut on his head.

Last Thursday, Myint Aye, 54, a leading human rights activist from Sanchaung Township in Rangoon, required treatment at the city’s main neurological hospital for head wounds after he was beaten by two unidentified men near his home.

Nyan Win, a spokesperson for the NLD, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday of another incident about a month ago, when knife-wielding pro-junta thugs chased several party members in Taunggok Township in Arakan State.

The recent attacks come as Burma’s military regime steps up training for “volunteers” who will be tasked with controlling protests against a referendum in May on the junta-sponsored draft charter.

Sources in Rangoon say that local authorities have been giving riot-control training to state-backed organizations, including volunteer firefighters, Red Cross personnel and members of Ward Peace and Development Councils in Rangoon’s South Dagon, South Okkalapa and Thingangyun Townships.

“They were instructed how to beat the activists and crack down on crowds if protests happen,” said one person who had witnessed the training sessions. “The firefighters were shown how to beat the protesters and members of the Red Cross learned how to pick them up and throw them on trucks, separating those who are dead from the ones who are still alive,” the witness added.

According to the witness, the training started at 10 p.m. and continued until midnight. Trainees received 500 kyat (US $0.45) and a meal for attending. The instructors were blue-uniformed Swan Ar Shin militia members and the supervisor for each ward was identified by a red stripe on his shoulder.

In recent years, Burma’s military junta has turned increasingly to civilians to stem unrest. Before troops crushed last year’s monk-led uprising, plainclothes agents were instrumental in snuffing out earlier protests against a dramatic rise in fuel prices.

Random attacks on opposition members have also increased as part of an ongoing campaign of intimidation. In April 2007, several members of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters, a human rights advocacy group founded in 2002, were mobbed and severely beaten by around one hundred members of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association in Hinthada Township, Irrawaddy Division.

In June 2007, Than Lwin, an NLD member who was elected as a representative for Madaya Township, Mandalay Division, in 1990 was attacked after praying for the release of NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Than Lwin is currently in Mandalay prison.