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03/02/2008: "NNC Prez hits out at politician morungexpress"



NNC Prez hits out at politician morungexpress

Dimapur, March 1 (MExN): The President of the Naga National Council today lambasted state politicians for making false promises about the Naga political issue during state elections and added that the Naga people can never trust the state politicians with the Naga political issue as they profess.
A press statement received here from the NNC President, Gen (Retd) I Panger Walling, while terming the state assembly elections as ‘imposed state election in the Naga country’, commented that ‘the state politicians are shouting at the top of their voices about Naga political issue at this hour of their political campaign as if this will be their top agenda in the state after winning the election’.
However, putting forth his observation of over forty years, Walling asserted that state politicians make promises but miserably fail to find solutions for the Naga political issue. “Instead, they create confusion and division among the people by siding one faction against the other and channel their interests in the pursuit of their own gains,” he said.
In this regard, the NNC President hit out at the former DAN government and said that the last five years rule in the state by Neiphiu Rio and his DAN Government, (which he called a Puppet Government) with the slogan of equi-closeness had failed miserably. Walling alleged that the DAN Government even sabotaged the ‘Reconciliation Meeting at Wokha’ which was organised by the NNC in 2004. “They even went to the extent of arresting the elderly people of Wokha Region who tried to host the Meet. This was done even after calling off the Meeting because of curfew in the area,” said Walling.
In this regard, the release said that this is a history created especially by Neiphiu Rio (former Chief Minister), Dr. TM Lotha (former Home Minister) and Eshenthung Ezung (the then DC Wokha) “for the first time in the political history of the Nagas in the state”.
“I as a Naga National Worker have not come across such a thing in my political life of more than 50 years. This is how they are dealing with the Naga political issue of sovereignty,” said Walling and added that this is why the Naga people can never trust the state politicians with the Naga political issue as they professed.
He declared that for the NNC, the Plebiscite of 1951 is the final verdict of the Naga people for freedom. “The Naga people should stand by this inalienable rights which is a clear cut political right and stand of the Naga people as a whole,” he said.
Budget Is 'revolutionary', Sonia Says At Nagaland Rally morungexpress
Congress president Sonia Gandhi Saturday called the union budget 'historic and revolutionary' while addressing a massive election rally here in Nagaland. 'We must thank the prime minister and the finance minister for deciding to waive bank loans to the tune of Rs.600 billion (for farmers). This budget is not only historic but revolutionary as well,' Gandhi said.

Elections to the 60-member Nagaland legislature are scheduled for May 5. Attired in a traditional tribal dress with a headgear, Gandhi harped on the theme of stability and peace while asking people to vote for the Congress.

'The last five years in Nagaland witnessed instability and was marked by an increase in killings and violence. Youths were made to believe that their aspirations could be fulfilled only through the barrel of the gun,' the head of India's ruling coalition told some 20,000 supporters.

She said the Congress was committed to working for the overall development of the northeast.
'Stability and peace are the two prerequisites for development. It is the Congress that can provide stability coupled with development,' Gandhi said.

The Nagaland Peoples Front (NPF), the dominant partner in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-backed Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) government in Nagaland that ruled the state until President's rule was imposed in January, is fighting the elections alone this time.

'The Congress stands for secularism and we are the only party that can cater to the needs of the people,' she said. The Congress is locked in a straight fight with the regional challenger NPF.
The NPF is contesting in 56 seats while the Congress has put up candidates in all 60 seats.

The BJP has put up candidates in 23 seats, the Nationalist Congress Party in eight seats and the Rashtriya Janata Dal in 26. A new regional outfit, the Nagaland Legislative Democratic Party, formed by a few breakaway BJP leaders, has also joined the race.
BREAK FROM THE PAST: Today's Naga youth promise themselves a future very different from the past and present. Message in music: Naga GenNext yearns for peace VK Shashikumar / CNN-IBN
Sonia promises better future
01 March, 2008 12:12:00 Limalenden, Zakir & Bonnie
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UPA Chairperson and AICC President Sonia Gandhi greets her supporters at the election campaign rally for Congress in Nagaland at DDSC Stadium, Dimapur on Saturday, March 1. (Photo/Caisii Mao)
Mokokchung/Dimapur | March 1 : UPA Chairperson and All India Congress Committee (AICC) President Sonia Gandhi today used her brief stopovers at Mokokchung and Dimapur to good effect promising plenty of development bonuses for Nagaland and appealed to the people of the State to vote for the Congress in the ensuing elections on March 5. Speaking at Mokokchung and Dimapur in two separate rallies, which was attended by a huge number of Congress supporters, Sonia said that the Congress wants to fulfill the promises they have made in the manifesto and urged people to support the party “by voting for the Congress, by pressing for the hand and thereby ensuring a better future for Nagaland and a better future for each and every one of you.”
Sticking to the theme of development, peace and bringing about an honorable settlement to the Naga political issue, Sonia did not disappoint by promising that in the next five years, nearly 50 thousand crores of rupees would be invested in building roads and various infrastructures in the whole of NE and said, “it goes without saying that Nagaland will greatly benefit.” She also said that she is conscious of the fact that above all, the people of Nagaland want a peaceful environment where all can live a life with dignity and security and continued that various efforts have been taken over the last decade to bring about a lasting settlement in Nagaland.
But she added, “There are some groups who are supported by certain political individuals who are not interested in peace and who do not want to help to support to return to peace.” She said that the Congress party is pledged to bring an honorable settlement, “a political settlement that is negotiated peacefully taking into account the concern of all parties.”
Earlier at Mokokchung, a traditional stronghold of the Congress party, Sonia reminded that the UPA government at the Centre had taken a major initiative in the occasion of golden jubilee celebration of Mokokchung district by allotting Rs.600 crores for the revival of Nagaland Pulp and Paper Mill at Tuli, which she said will be completely revived in the next two and a half years. “This will ensure the continuing prosperity of the state,” she added. “I give you my commitment that as soon as I reach Delhi, I shall speak to the concerned ministry and see that they start the work right away,” she promised, which was welcomed with cheers by the crowd.
Sonia during her rally also used the term “a whole new chapter in Nagaland” to send out her message that people will have full opportunity for employment, for education and that in this “new chapter”, farmers will have ample opportunities for improving their income. “This new chapter will see to it that the rich natural resources of Nagaland will be exploited solely and directly for the people and create jobs for them”, she said while adding that this “new beginning is possible only under the leadership of Congress party”.
She also maintained that the Congress party alone can provide a capable and transparent administration that genuinely cares for the welfare of the people, “an administration that is fair, that is sensitive to the concerns and the aspirations of the Naga people”. She said that it is only the Congress party that there can be a clear vision for the future of Nagaland.
Questioning the handling of funds poured in by Delhi, Sonia said that the UPA government led by the Congress party at the Centre placed greatest empathy on the development of NE and especially Nagaland and that huge financial allocation have been made to the state for development but questioned as to where all the money went. “You all have to ask the government, she said, and added, “Has the huge allocation sent by the Centre been judiciously spent for the people? Has it reached the people for which it was supposed to be? These are the questions you have to ask yourself. I know you’re well aware that these allocations have not been spent judiciously. This money has been diverted to other areas”, Sonia said.
She also pointed out that the Congress “recognizes that the NE, that Nagaland, can be a virtual gateway to the East, with neighboring countries, which would help expand economic trade” and added that the government has identified three international trade centers in the State namely Avangkhu, Longwa and Pangsha.
She also believed that the budget that was passed in the Parliament yesterday under the leadership of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh “is historic” and said that the loans of small and marginal farmers have been waived, and added, “this is really a revolutionary step because crores and crores of small farmers who are tremendously suffering will be relieved and it is our sincere belief that they will be able to make a future for themselves.” Sonia Gandhi also announced good news for the womenfolk, making mention of the increase in salary for Angawadi workers and their helpers and the increase in allocation to Self Help Groups. “The budget has kept every one in mind” she beamed with pride. The AICC president however added that in order to fulfill all its promises made to the people, the Congress party needed its support.
Naga bodies condemn morungexpress Newmai News Network
The repeated blank firing at Chingkham Kabui village in Lilong under Thoubal district of Manipur by gunmen on the nights of February 24 and February 27, have been strongly condemned by Zeliangrong Students’ Union, Manipur (ZSUM) and All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur (ANSAM).
The two students' bodies, in a separate statement, have appealed all concerns to restrain from carrying out such unwanted activities in the civilian populated areas. ANSAM expressed its concern over the February 24 and 27 incidents at Chingkham Kabui village and said that the innocent civilians have been traumatised by the gunmen. The Naga students' body with seriousness has appealed the elements involved in the incidents not to repeat in future so as to prevent any misunderstanding among the groups of people. Voicing similar tone, the Zeliangrong Students Union, Manipur (ZSUM) has said that it did not take the twin incidents lightly. ZSUM said that it feels for the villagers who have been gripped with fear psychosis due to the repeated firing incidents. The Zeliangrong students' body appealed the elements involved in the firing incidents not to test the patience of the community which may have ugly repercussion prompted by such incidents.
Rejoinder to Akho and Thomas
March 1, 2008
The life of choosing to tread the Naga revolutionary career is not a bed of roses. It is a matter of a person's most crucial decision. For it involves adhering to the virtues of revolutionary patriot which are reflected through a person's sense of conviction, commitment to the cause, dedication, endurance and sacrifices. Once a decision is taken nothing comes too big a burden, not withstanding human failure.
In the context of wild allegations by Z..D. Akho and his new adopted master Thomas NNC member NSCN will never run away from the reality of the situation and therefore be bold enough to call spade a spade. Because NSCN cannot bluff its way through in the ultimate sense of the trial. I'm compelled to take a move because the longer I decided to remain silent I feel all the more guilty. Because the manner of Akho taking potshots at NSCN is an act of sheer irresponsibility.
Mr. Akho, surprisingly, you have found a willing friend and may be now your master in the person of NNC member Thomas. After all, birds of the same feather flocked together. To find strength in Mr. Thomas's comfort speak of everything. Thomas is a person who have lost the Naga revolutionary identity and there is no virtue left in him to speak on the morality of the Naga political movement. He is only desperate and every single move of Thomas is a deception to show his face that has already passed into political oblivion. Mr. Akho, I regret that you have run away from NSCN fold on 25th Dec, 2007. this is quite unbecoming of you. A " Himalayan blinder" after giving your service for the cause you have chosen. A disgraceful decision for an army officer of your rank. What on ignominous exit from the national service.
I have my own conviction in joining NSCN like you and your juniors. I don't expect perfection from NSCN, and therefore, to find you preaching on morality or the ugly side of NSCN is nothing more than an abstruse defence. This absurdity on your part is a reflection of your own shortcomings. You talk about army rules and regulations. You are certainly trying to convey that you were denied what you deserved. But there is no doubt of your getting your due place in the Naga Army.
You have the temerity to talk about NSCN officers amassing wealth. For so long it has come to the government knowledge that you have been indulging in unfair practices while you were posted as Town Command in Senapati. Construction a palatial building in Senapati which is worth more than Rs. 20 lakhs is a meager amount of your corrupted existence as a member of NSCN. It was a person of your character and mindset that brought the downfall of NSCN image in the eye of the public.
A money monger of your type will never remain satisfied. You expect to be posted in the taxation department but on being denied for obvious reason you run away from NSCN and raise hue and cry. Opportunist of your type have no place in Naga Army Set -Up. Your greed for money cause your own downfall and your spirit of patriotism vanish in the air.
You reveal yourself when you talk so much of the lapses in the NSCN when you know so much of the ugly side of NSCN. You should have stand up like a true revolutionary, but you have no guts to face the reality of the situation. Why not confront the immoral activities with the face of morality. But to run away in such manner is an act of cowardice.
Taking shelter in rival camp and parroting their version to lunch bitter diatribe against the NSCN is the most demeaning act of frustration.
Certainly you are also caught up with the deadly disease of envy and jealousy. You should have proved your worth in the manner that befits an army officer of your rank as Major. But you refuse to face the reality of the Naga Army where the winner always goes to the one who stand by the virtues that are part of the disciplinary code of conduct. In the Naga Army one cannot be expected to have his own way always no matter who he is.
To my surprise you are talking smart enough on Naga unification and Naga solution. I strongly believe that NSCN leadership is exploring every means to bring about Naga unification without selling out our national principle. NSCN consider Naga unification as a serious issue. And accordingly, no haphazard manner is appreciated in approaching this national issue.
Issue By: 2nd Lieut. S. Kapai Secretary to Longvibu, Naga Army
The Games India Play Achan Ramsan
A real bombshell- this Narayanan. A bombshell when a National Security Advisor’s word is to be more ‘substantive’ than that of the PM. The question: Should India so disown the talk by displaying no accountability? The spilling of the beans - bureaucratic beans - by the NSA MK Narayanan puts a decade of talks back to square one through the back door of the meanest means. Why back to square one: He pointed on the need for renegotiation of some core issues, implying that the talks had all along been false. What a cruel joke! How many times will India back out of its so called commitment? So, the Nagas are taken for a ride for all these years without any destination and meaning.
Why bureaucratic beans? A bureaucrat could not be expected to comprehend the full political implication of the talk as a parrot, taught and trained to utter some particular words at a particular time. As the NSA everything outside the text book of the Indian constitution is ‘foreign’ and everything foreign is a threat to national security. That’s why the pre-condition at the pre-talk level - of a political talk by the political head at a political level. The question is: Does the PM asked the NSA, nay authorized the NSA to make political decision and comment on the Indo-Naga political talk (if the talk is political at all)? Is this not deception of the highest order?
What does this imply? The talks seems to have been relegated to the lowest level from the ‘highest level’ - meaning difference in perception, perception of the Naga political movement as law and order problem from an earlier perception of it as political. So, the talk is back to the days of the dinosaur before the ceasefire. There is a bundle of contradiction within itself and that given out to the Nagas to confuse them. Killing two birds with two confusions. A bait, perhaps. But how long will this game of the cat and the mouse go on? It is indeed a diabolical retrogression and adoption of a means most foul. This does not bode well for either the Nagas or India . At least on the moral front, India cannot build itself at the destruction of the Nagas.
The game India Plays: At least, on the part of Manmohan Singh, political will seems to be lacking. Is he trying to wash his hands off the whole affair? Otherwise, why should a bureaucrat be made to spell out the most significant denouement? No sincerity. No transparency. No accountability. These are worrying the Nagas as to the purpose of the talk or any agreement with India.
A bureaucratic view by the PM: Surprisingly the PM too seems to have sunk to a bureaucratic view of the situation trying to approach the issue from the developmental context. The PM may perhaps be toying with the idea of developmental schemes and programmes as the panacea for all problems. But, it must be pointed out that the question here is rather of identity, a political identity of the Nagas as needing ventilation and accommodation. And distorting the issue to development as ‘broad-based accommodation’ is just a hoax and an eyewash.
So what is imperative? A design by India to further divide the Nagas - with the insurgents on the one hand and the civil populace on the other - as a matter of two different identity is a matter of concern. To let the insurgents be caught in their own dent of corruption and promising development to the people could well be a trap by India. The moment demands the voices of the Nagas to be asserted and be heard - and not just the voice of the factions as the trend has so far been. The absence of strong public voice or the lukewarm attitude of the people is worrying.
January saw a further split in the NSCN (IM) and birth of another outfit, NSCN(U).Young turks join Naga polls to ring in changeSplit in NSCN(IM) deals big blow to Naga struggle
Tribal divisions, endemic corruption and unending insurgency have made Nagaland's GenerationNext restless. They want to heal the divisions. They want peace with honour. They want to Rattle and Hum.Over the past years, many agreements have been signed and forgotten and many promises broken over Asia's longest insurgency. Yet slowly but surely, Nagaland is hearing voices it never heard before: music that resonates across the world a yearning for peace from Generation 2008. Welcome to Nagaland.
Eximious is a popular band in Nagaland and their practice pad is a clothes shop, where they compose and plan their gigs.
Kohima's Dream Café, a popular hangout for the young, is where they jam, sing about their lives and promise themselves a future very different from the past and the present.
"Guns are bad, they should be banned," says Tali, the lead vocalist with the band.

He says a lot has changed for his generation. "Every day we see something is changing. Something is different. When you get out of the house, oh this is different. Specially for our youth, there are lots of opportunity everywhere — be it music, work or business. There is a lot of difference."
Tali and his band are not afraid of thinking big. "First and foremost, we would be cutting an album. We are also coming up with the videos to be seen on MTV and all the music channels to win awards. After that we will be like OK we are done, go back and retire," he reveals his heart. For a lot of Naga young stars, success in music means locally producing a DVD. But Theja Meru, a musician himself, has set up the Rattle and Hum Music Society to promote Naga talent in India and beyond.
"We have got nowhere. There has been no breakthrough except for doing 2-3 shows a year in Nagaland. We have an identity in our music. So bring them together. Use folk to create the fusion for a better future. So folk, fusion and future — that's what Rattle and Hum intends to do in the next few months and years," Theja Meru says about his dream.
Senti Toy, a Naga student in New York, is quietly making her presence felt. Her debut album, How Many Stories Do You Read On My Face, was selected by the Wall Street Journal<.i> in its Best of 2007 music list. Many feel it's just a start.
"For many reasons, Nagas feel that we are the centre of the world, which we are not. There is a world outside of us, which we are missing in terms of development. I feel music being one of our strengths, it can let people know about us and help us get to know them. This could be an incredible bridge," Theja Meru feels.
Things have changed slowly in Nagaland over the last 10-15 years. Life here still follows a 9am-to-4pm routine And India and Nagaland are often in different time zones.
Yet there is a promise of a younger generation, plugged to global aspirations. And they are willing to find a beat that's going to turn the clock for Nagaland.
In Kohima, a petite designer waits for the world to embrace her. "I went to Delhi to polish my skills, gain new experiences and learn new things. I became smarter, street smart," fashion designer Kuku says of her journey.
Kuku is from a new generation of Nagas who don't feel at all alienated from the mainstream. "Our outlook on life has changed compared to 5-10 years back. There's a big difference now," she says. "No matter where you are, it depends on the individual whether you open yourself to new people when you meet somebody. You always have something to learn about them,"
In a far corner of India, held hostage by an insurgent movement gone stale and an indifferent government, the young Nagas are best described as GLOCAL — or rooted in Naga identity — in terms of aspirations, but global in vision.
"We are adventurous. We want to learn many new things, but we have this strong desire to keep our identity intact," Kuku says matter-of-factlyVincent Belho is a roving health activist. He talks about issues like hygiene and HIV/AIDS in villages like Kiegwema. Vincent believes that division among the tribals are Nagaland's biggest handicap.
"We are not heading anywhere. There are many media reports on progress in the peace process. Media reports say that the Naga issue will have a solution very soon. But how soon is soon? It's taking such a long time," Vincent says with a sense of desperation.There are 16 major tribes in Nagaland, each fiercely protective of its identity. Even the insurgent groups are divided on tribal lines. The failure to forge a common Naga identity has handicapped the militant Naga nationalist movement. So now, young Nagas like Vincent are trying to make a difference.
"To contribute to my people, I don't need to take arms, that's my belief. I don't need to take a pistol, or an AK47. What I can contribute to my people is go to my village and see what my village needs," he says. Vincent typifies the modern Naga youth — mainstream, optimistic and keen to leave the guns behind. He is running out of patience with the so-called peace process.
"Today we have NSCN (IM), NSCN (K) and we have a new unification group which many people don't know. Now, if Unification is a group that brings unity among different factions, it is a good thing. But what if it turns out to be just another faction? What is the use?" he asks.
KK Newmai is a teacher in a small school in Dimapur. This young teacher now feels let down by the insurgency movement. "Yes, I feel betrayed. My own brothers have betrayed me, betrayed my hopes and dreams. And somehow the government has also played a part in it," he says
Nagas, he feels, still need to learn a lot about each other. "You ask me about Akbar, you ask about Aurangzeb and I will be able to tell you. You ask me about another Naga tribe, I don't have the details. I think probably we have lived too close to know each other and remember each other," Newmai explains. GenNext in Nagaland supports a meaningful peace process — a negotiated and dignified settlement. Nagaland, they say, must leave the past behind. Change is finally ringing in for little Nagaland, as Naga youth start thinking out of the box to end the peace process stalemate.
"Somehow it has to come to an end in a manner that it is not a disgrace for those people who have started when it was relevant," Newmai suggests. (With Mukut Medhi and Arijit Sen)
House raps, but pardons UNC-backed MLAs
The Imphal Free Press

IMPHAL, Feb 29: Five independent MLAs of the Manipur Legislative Assembly who made provocative statements on the resolution passed by the state Assembly outside the House have been warned not to repeat the same in future by the Speaker S Budhichandra on Friday.

Before this, the secretary of the Manipur Legislative Assembly, T Joute reported to the House the statements made by the MLAs to the media under Rules 78 (ii) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the state Assembly with the permission of the Speaker.

The five UNC backed MLAs Dr Kashim Ruivah, K Raina, Wungnousing Keishing, Danny Sheiza and Awangbou Newmai through a local daily on February 24, mention may be made, said that they condemned and disagreed with the resolution passed in the House. They also said that they did not take part in the discussion on the matter.

On the following day, ruling Congress MLA E Kunjeshwor during call attention demanded an explanation from the five UNC backed MLAs on their statement against the resolution of the House observing that it was unfortunate that they made such a remark outside the House while the session was on showing disregard to the House.

Their provocative statement has been delibrated in the House since then and on February 26 Speaker S Budhichandra assured to initiate appropriate procedures in the House after a close scrutiny of the matter.

Today, after the report was placed, the Speaker invited comments from the members concerned in their defense. However, as no comments came up from the five MLAs, the Speaker asked the chief minister who is the leader of the House to give his observation on the matter.

In his comment, chief minister O Ibobi Singh said that despite being given freedom of speech and freedom to write in a democratic country it would be wrong to make such provocative remarks outside the House as the matter is related with the resolution adopted by the same. It amounted to undermining the dignity of the House, he observed.

If they wanted to make any comment or oppose the matter, they should do it on the floor of the House, Ibobi added.

He also appealed to the members to participate in the debate in the House if there was any objection and abstain from talking of House related matters outside the House.

After giving his lengthy observation, Ibobi suggested to the House to forgive them considering it was the first case.

The Speaker then asked the five members who remained sitting without giving any comment not to make such statements which hurt the dignity of the House and closed the matter.
Where giants jostle Hamish McDonald reports from behind the bamboo curtain. Photographs by Kate Geraghty.
Northern Burma is being transformed by China and India.
Sittwe is a mouldering port of 200,000 people on the neglected Arakan coast of Burma, visited by a few foreigners heading upriver to the ruined pagodas and palaces of an ancient kingdom inland. In five years from now, it promises to be transformed into one of the strategic hubs of Asia, figuring in the calculations of planners and analysts all the way to Washington.
"Think of it as a new Panama Canal," says one well-connected businessman in Rangoon.
A multibillion-dollar deepwater port on a nearby island will receive giant oil tankers from the Middle East and Africa, pumping their cargoes into pipelines that will stretch inland to energy-hungry China, avoiding the choke points of the Strait of Malacca controlled by the US Navy and its allies. Other pipelines will take natural gas from the huge reserves being defined off the Arakan coast and Burma's Gulf of Martaban.
Meanwhile, the Indian Special Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has just been in Rangoon, nailing down agreement on a new all-weather highway from India's Imphal via Kalemyo to Mandalay, which by 2010 will give India's restive and isolated north-eastern states an alternative outlet to the tenuous route to Kolkata through the "bird's neck" of territory along the Brahmaputra valley.
Across the top of Burma, the Indians are also pouring huge investments into restoring the World War II "Stillwell Road" that once took supplies to the Chinese nationalists fighting the Japanese, relinking the Indian town of Ledo to Myitkyina, north of Mandalay, from where the road leads into China.
At Sittwe, India is also contesting Chinese dominance or any plans to add this port to Beijing's "string of pearls", strategic ports across the Indian Ocean. India plans to dredge the Kaladan River flowing to Sittwe from the north and turn it into a transport corridor for its isolated state of Mizoram.
India is quietly trying to warn Burma's ruling generals about the dangers of too close an embrace by China, a traditional enemy.
"There are sufficient reasons to suspect the junta would prefer to contain, if possible, the overwhelming influence of China," says the veteran New Delhi diplomatic analyst Subhash Chakravarti, a confidant of successive Indian prime ministers. "Its natural choice to seek to do so is to encourage a larger Indian presence in the country."
In return, Burma is helping India suppress its own insurgencies.
"India is hopelessly vulnerable to tribal insurgency in its north-east frontier," Chakravarti says. "We can hardly ensure security there without full co-operation with Burma, which has lately been a splendid success. As a result, India's earlier open criticism of the junta [in diplomatic statements and on All India Radio] is more muted."
But so far, China is winning hands down. Recently, New Delhi was stunned when the Burmese junta ruled that gas from the massive Block A-1 field, being opened up by two Indian state energy firms with South Korea's Daewoo group, would be sold to China instead of going to India by undersea pipeline, and probably (diplomats in Rangoon say) at concessional prices.
We crossed from the gleaming Chinese border city of Ruili into Burma, escorted by a travel agent designated by the Burmese Government. From boom-time China, which had mobile phone coverage and automatic teller machines even in this far corner, it was a short walk into the 1970s: shabby shops fronting shanty houses; old ex-Japanese cars; cycles.
Down the old Burma Road and through five checkpoints to the town of Lashio, where our travel agent minder left us, the economic invasion by China was apparent all around.
Just outside Burma's border town of Muse, facing Ruili, long convoys of 10- and 12-wheel trucks rolled into an export-import checking station extending over a kilometre in length. Stacks of teak logs from Burma's forests waited marked and graded in a lumber yard, ready for shipment into China.
Truckloads of watermelons and other high-value produce, grown by Chinese farmers on rented land with hired Burmese labour, were heading towards China, while young Burmese men, sheepish at being photographed, were driving smuggled Chinese-made motorcycles without numberplates down towards Mandalay. Vast tracts of land, some controlled by the Tatmadaw (Burma's military), were planted with sugar cane, pineapples and cassava (for biofuel) for sale or processing in China.
Later, on the Irrawaddy River outside Bhamo, another town close to China, our boat was packed with polythene-wrapped motorbikes, probably brought across the small, locals-only border crossing nearby.
The Burma Road from the Chinese border to Mandalay is now the toll-collecting fiefdom of Asia World, a construction company run by Stephen Law, son of the former heroin warlord Lo Hsin Han, who was brought into the fold by the junta in 1992 and given the road concession as reward.
Deep in the Shan hills off the road, the Burmese authorities claim to have reduced the opium-growing area to a small fraction of its heyday when the Cold War gave a measure of protection to the country's anti-communist regime. The main illegal game is now the amphetamine laboratories hidden in the eastern corner of Shan state.
But this is well out of sight, like the casinos and brothels that used to attract customers from Chinese border towns slipping across on day passes. Locals in Muse said these had shifted to northern Laos.
In this consciously cleaned-up relationship, China's links with Burma are more pervasive than any simple trade-off of munitions and diplomatic backing for the Burmese generals in return for oil and timber (at the official level) and drugs and trafficked women (in the black markets).
As well as being the planned outlet to the Indian Ocean, Burma has become an open market for China's hungry entrepreneurs and traders, like Mr Lin from the manufacturing powerhouse of Wenzhou. He crossed the border with us on the way to his factory in Rangoon, where 40 Burmese workers earning the equivalent of $30 a month make metal shop awnings and shutters.
In the former British hill station of Maymyo (now Pyin Oo Lwin), one of the 5000 Chinese residents celebrating the lunar new year at the town's Chinese pagoda said the Chinese had emerged in 1996 from intense suspicion provoked by Beijing's Cultural Revolution-era support for the now defunct Burmese communist parties (which included a cross-border invasion in 1968-71). "Things are much better now," he said, to the sound of firecrackers.
In the tourist town of Bagan, an ethnic Chinese businessman talked of plans to help open a Confucius Institute in Burma, part of Beijing's drive for "soft power" by teaching its language and culture. Of Burma's efforts to persuade the world it is moving to democracy, he said: " I hope it doesn't happen. As long as this country doesn't open to the Western countries, people like me will benefit from the strong China-Burma relationship."
FOR the Sittwe plans to materialise, very big natural and political obstacles have to be overcome. For one thing, northern Burma and China's neighbouring Yunnan are cut by soaring mountain ranges running north-south to the eastern end of the Himalayas, with massive rivers such as the Salween and Mekong cutting into chasms thousands of metres deep. Putting roads and pipelines across this country will be fraught with engineering obstacles and expense.
Right from the Arakan shoreline, Burma teems with ethnic groups that have many reasons to hate the ruling junta and disrupt its economic underpinnings.
North of Sittwe live as many as 1.5 million Muslims known as the Rohingya who are denied citizenship or ethnic identity in Burma and neighbouring Bangladesh. Subject to harsh surveillance and restrictions (including a requirement to get permits for local travel), the Rohingya would seem a fertile recruiting ground for violent groups.
Further inland, the Tatmadaw has run a network of local truces with a score of rebel armies and their splinter groups since the mid-1990s, often giving them a slice of cross-border duty collection.
On a road junction between Myitkyina and Bhamo, leading off to a small frontier post, was a large two-storey office signposted as belonging to the Kachin Independence Organisation, a former separatist movement that signed a truce in 1994.
In the small town of Hsipaw we encountered General Saing Lo, the weather-beaten chief of the Shan State Army, which ended hostilities in 1996. He was supervising a tournament among his men at the local Dodhtawaddy Tennis Club to celebrate Shan Independence Day, his new-model Toyota LandCruiser parked outside with his army's sticker on the windscreen. "Did you watch the Australian Open?" he asked. "We could only see it on a DVD here."
The deals have allowed the Tatmadaw to focus its efforts on crushing the remaining holdout rebel groups along the Thai border, based among the ethnic Karen, Karenni, Shan and Mon. More than doubled in size since the 1988 student uprising, the Tatmadaw is now 450,000 strong and rated as one of the most capable armies in the region.
In recent years, mainstream offensive units have kept up the pressure on the rebels in an unrelenting "four cuts" strategy aimed at denying them food, money, information and recruits. The civilian population has borne the brunt of this pressure, maintained now through the wet and dry seasons, with some 140,000 people pushed into refugee camps. The Karen have just suffered a devastating blow in the assassination of their promising new leader, Pado Manh Sha, in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, apparently by a hit squad who fled into Burma.
While the population remains among the most miserably poor in Asia, the Tatmadaw sequesters between 40 and 70 per cent of government revenue, plus cuts from business associates, and is re-equipping itself with modern arms including MiG-29 fighters from Russia, better artillery and communications.
Western intelligence agencies are intrigued by reopened negotiations with Russia for a small nuclear reactor, satellite images of uranium mining and a mysterious delivery of containers by North Korean ships that Burma insists were just allowed to make port calls as "vessels in distress".
One question is whether the ethnic minorities can be permanently bought off or whether new splinter groups will emerge to pose a violent challenge, if only to shake the money tree. A bigger mystery is the ultimate stability of the deeply unpopular Tatmadaw regime and whether it can rely indefinitely on violent suppression.
Security in the central belt of the country north from Rangoon depends on a pervasive and permanent counterinsurgency-style campaign against its own people, involving thousands of Military Intelligence personnel running informer networks and muscle squads throughout the country.
Random checks are mounted on ordinary households for unregistered guests and jailing is automatic for any lapses. Official tirades assail the "lies from the skies" broadcast by Voice of America, the BBC and the Democratic Voice of Burma, which recently began direct satellite TV signals.
Diplomats say the apparent hesitation to crack down on protests sparked by fuel price rises in August and September was deliberate, not a sign of weakness. The delay allowed a massive intelligence operation in which thousands of undercover agents took pictures and identified demonstrators and sympathisers.
Two of the generals said in some reports to have refused to order troops to open fire on crowds have since been promoted, hardly a sign of dissent. Rank-and-file troops showed no hesitation storming monasteries across the country in the midnight crackdown of September 26 against what they were told were "fake monks" acting "contrary to their dharma [spiritual duty]". About 4000 monks and known dissidents were hauled off, of whom most were released after two weeks. About 1100 political prisoners are still in jails and labour camps around the country.
Little escapes the military. On February 12, Burma's official Union Day, the Herald took some photographs of a brass band of the Tatmadaw's White Arrow Division in Bhamo practising by a public road. Three hours later we were hauled off a boat down the Irrawaddy and held for two hours while officers studied our cameras, radioed headquarters for instructions and finally deleted what images of the band they could find. "Anything about the army is very sensitive at this time," an officer explained through a local high-school English teacher called in to interpret.
Than Shwe, the "senior general" heading the State Peace and Development Council (as the junta calls itself), has a firm grip, though at 76 he is showing the effects of diabetes and minor strokes. A former chief of psychological warfare, he employs terror and surprise. In October 2004 he mounted a lightning internal putsch against his powerful but unsuspecting intelligence chief, General Khin Nyunt, now serving a 44-year jail sentence. Just recently, on December 31, Than Shwe underwent an operation for pancreatic cancer in Singapore, leaving the country for two weeks without any move against him.
Although the junta is not sentimental about its dumped leaders (the founding general Ne Win died in 2002 with no state funeral, his daughter in jail and the family banned from publishing eulogies), its power transitions have been bloodless so far. Its No. 3 general, Shwe Mann, 60, is poised as heir apparent.
ON the tarmac at Rangoon's airport sit two new Airbus passenger jets, painted in the white and turquoise colours of the private carrier Air Bagan. The planes began a regular service to Singapore last October, but two weeks later were grounded when a Singapore bank withdrew the purchase credit from the company.
Tay Za, 40, the owner of Air Bagan, is the most visible victim of the "targeted sanctions" imposed by several Western countries after the September crackdown, including Australia, which lists 418 senior regime figures, family members and associates for denial of banking facilities. Described by one Rangoon-based diplomat as the "junta's No. business crony", his Htoo Trading group is said to have a son of General Shwe Mann on its board and to be the channel for Russian military sales, although Tay Za denies any government connections or illegitimate activities.
It was an early strike for a largely untested weapon, showing that the risk of a US Treasury black-listing was enough even for banks in Singapore, a notorious private banking sanctuary for South-East Asia's dubious characters and a member of the Association of South-East Asian Nations cautious about the regional group's no-interference taboo, to cut off a rich Burmese customer.
On February 9, the junta chief Than Shwe surprised diplomats and even tightly controlled local newspapers by announcing that a referendum on a new constitution would be held in May, followed by multiparty general elections in 2010, putting some dates on a vague "road map" to democracy talked about for 14 years.
Subsequent details contain fewer surprises. Enshrining no fewer than 104 "basic principles" laid down by Than Shwe, the constitution will give overwhelming powers to the president, a quarter of seats in the legislature to the military and bar the Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi from standing because she had been married to a foreigner.
Some welcome this as movement of sorts, at least formalising some non-government politics. But with Suu Kyi and the ageing clutch of ex-generals running her National League for Democracy under house arrest and most of the "1988 Generation" of former student leaders back in jail, prospects for anything but a sham democracy are thin.
Many expect the junta to quickly form some token opposition parties to its own civilian cheer squad, the Union Solidarity and Development Association, which claims to have 25 million members (out of Burma's 54 million people). After the shock of the last elections - held in 1990, in which Suu Kyi's party won more than 60 per cent of the vote (a result ignored) - fewer chances will be taken.
But if Than Shwe's decision results from external pressure, it probably came from China, whose leaders have urged the regime to speed up democratisation and which could be worried that Burma will join Darfur on the list of blackmail acupuncture points for the Beijing Olympics.
Western governments are trying to influence China and, to some extent, India to go further. The line is that the stability apparently guaranteed by the Burmese generals is fragile: with the civilian economy running down, poverty widespread in a country once the rice bowl of Asia, HIV and avian influenza menacing and an education system that once attracted students from other regional countries deliberately dumbed down under military rule, Burma could descend into chaos.
But this is close to the argument the West uses to try to persuade China's communists to relax their own monopoly on power. And the same nightmare breakdown scenario is used by the influential historian Thant Myint-U, to argue in his book The River of Lost Footsteps for a policy of engagement, not isolation.
Sanctions don't work against generals who care nothing for the outside world and are obsessed with the risk of multi-ethnic Burma falling apart. "There are no easy options, no quick fixes, no grand strategies that will create democracy in Burma overnight or even over several years," Thant Myint-U wrote. "If Burma were less isolated, if there were more trade, more engagement - more tourism in particular - and this were coupled with a desire by the government for greater economic reform, a rebuilding of state institutions, and slow opening up of space for civil society, then perhaps the condition for political change would emerge over the next decade or so."
But the Tatmadaw, at least, is taking seriously Western fantasies about military intervention. During our journey we asked often whether Sylvester Stallone's new Rambo movie, a gory tale of a rescue mission into Burma, has any underground currency. "Please, you not ask," said one pirate DVD peddler in Rangoon. "The Government not laugh. Four years jail."
NLD sues junta, Rangoon HC rejects case Maung Dee Mizzima News
In a rare but important development, Burma's opposition party – the National League for Democracy – on Friday filed a case against the Burmese ruling junta for failing to convene the peoples' parliament as an offshoot for the 1990 general election results.However, Nyan Win, the NLD spokesperson said, the Rangoon High Court immediately rejected the case that charges the junta of neglecting its duty to convene the peoples' parliament, which has been mandated by article 12 of the decree 1/90, and 1989 election law.
According to the 1989 election law, as was declared by the junta, the regime had the responsibility of convening the peoples' parliament within 60 days from the declaration of the election results, Nyan Win said.
And the decree 1/90 vested the responsibility of drafting a constitution to the elected peoples' representatives in the 1990 election.
The current ruling junta, namely the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as well as the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) (the earlier name for the junta), had neglected these responsibilities, Nyan Win said.
"So we went to the High Court to file a case against the government. The deputy director of the High Court looked at our case and did not respond but left us in the room for nearly an hour. And when he came back he told us that he will not accept our case," Nyan Win told Mizzima over telephone.
The NLD leaders including Chairman Aung Shwe, lawyer Kyi Win, and lawyer Aung Thein, had gone to file the case as the junta, neither the SLORC nor the SPDC had kept its promise, which they had declared in various decrees, but are now gearing up to hold another referendum and election, Nyan Win said.Earlier this month, the junta announced that it will hold a referendum on the new constitution in May and follow it up with a general election in 2010. The junta on Tuesday also said that it has formed a 45-member referendum convening commission and enacted a law that covers the polling process.
"Neglecting to convene the peoples' parliament and yet conducting another election not only ignores the desires of voters of the 1990 election but is an act of sheer irresponsibility," Nyan Win said. The NLD also condemned Burma's judicial system for failing to accept a case being filed in the High Court. Nyan Win, who is also a lawyer, said a deputy director has no legal rights or 'judicial power' to reject a case that is being filed.
"If a case filed at the highest level of courts is rejected, then where can we file our complaints? So, in view of correcting this practice, we will once again file the case next week," Nyan Win said.


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