MON PRISONERS DENIED ACCESS

(Kao Wao: September 8, 2003)

The Burmese Army rejected a request from the cease-fire group to visit its members who were arrested for a state assassination plot.

According to the New Mon State Party (NMSP) office at the Thai-Burma border, senior military intelligence officer of Office of Strategic Studies (OSS) Colonel San Pwint told the NMSP leader Nai Aung Min that visitors are not yet allowed to meet the Mon detainees.

The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) arrested 12 suspects including two NMSP members Nai Yekkha and Nai Chem Gakow and Mon National Democratic Front leader Nai Min Kyi on July 17, 2003 being charged with involvement in a number of explosions in Moulmein and other cities.

The NMSP denied the charges and insists that it is committed to solving the country’s problem through a political dialogue rather than violent attacks.

In the late August, the Mon leaders led by President Nai Htin and Vice-President General Htow Mon traveled to Rangoon to meet with the SPDC leader General Khin Nyunt.

The NMSP liaison office said the meeting was a normal process and resulted in more business opportunities despite the case of Mon detainees and other political agendas.

In July, the NMSP issued a joint-statement, along with six other ceasefire groups, expressing grief for those who lost their lives in the May 30 attacks against the democratic leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters in upper Burma.