NLD member pressurised to halt political activities in Magwe Division

DVb ( July 28,2003 )

It is reported that the NLD members in 14 townships in Magwe Division, Upper Burma were summoned by the local SPDC authorities on the 21st of July and pressurised not to take part in politics.

Out of the 25 townships in Magwe Division, the NLD is allowed to raise signboards (open offices) in only 11 townships and the remaining 14 are being forced to remained closed and redundant by the local authorities. But in the 14 townships, the NLD formation is still intact, each with its own township chairman, secretary, chief organiser and youth and women branches and members are still doing their duties.

On the 18th of July respective township authorities including those at Ngapeh and Minbu issued an order for the cessation of all activities of the NLD offices in the 14 townships.

On the 21st, all the NLD township chairmen were summoned and threatened, said someone close to the NLD as follows:

A local resident : In Magwe Division, there are 25 townships. 11 townships have raised the NLD signboards each with their own organising committee. The remaining 14 haven’t raised the signboards yet. The authorities forced their signboards to come down with many types of tricks. What they are trying to do now is – the chairmen of township local authorities are summoning the NLD chairmen and secretaries of the remaining 14 townships and them tell that they have no more than 5 members and that their organisation is redundant and that it has no signboard and the like. Therefore, they have no rights to take part in politics. If they did, they would be prosecuted with the existing laws and the like. They threatened them thus and forced them to sign agreements. After the Dipeyin incident, we learnt that the military government has been plotting to stop the NLD from being active in townships. It has been plotting to rout the NLD and declare it as an illegal party since 2000. They imprisoned NLD members. They created problems for them. They made it look that there was no NLD supporter and they used violence to take down the NLD signboards.