09/14/2009

Two years after the rising of the monks Burma’s military junta increases pressure on Buddhist monks

Burma: Junta increases pressure on monks before the anniversary


A few days before the second anniversary of the bloody crushing of the rising of the monks in Burma (25.09) the military junta has increased its pressure on the Buddhist monasteries. This was pointed out by the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) in Göttingen. The entrances to almost all monasteries have been monitored for days by plainclothes security officers. In some monasteries there have again been house searches and arrests”. reported the GfbV Asia consultant, Ulrich Delius. It is clear that the junta fears new protests, for even the freedom of movement of monks and nuns is being strictly curtailed.

 

The deputy abbot of the monastery Shwe Zaydi Parli in the town of Yenanchaung was arrested on 27th August. One day later a young monk from the Mandalay monastery in the town of Pakkokku was arrested. Among the 2,211 political prisoners in Burma there are about 250 Buddhist monks and 20 nuns. "Burma’s military offices are trying to intimidate monks and nuns with family liability, holding the family responsible for the individual”, criticised Delius. In March 2009 six members of the family of the monk Ashin Gambira were sentenced to five years imprisonment. His elder brother Aung Kyaw Kyaw was given a sentence of 14 years. Ashin Gambira, who had called out to protests throughout the country was sentenced to 63 years imprisonment.

 

In June 2009 the Ministry of Religion forbade foreign travel and all political activities and public speaking on the part of monks. In July 2009 the authorities directed that monks in various parts of the country hand in recent photographs of themselves. "Many monks fear that the pictures could be misused by the security forces in order to control the monasteries more effectively”, reported Delius.

 

Burmese monks living in exile in India called out at the end of August 2009 to a new boycott of "donations” from the hands of soldiers and those responsible for the dictatorship. Out of protest against the brutal behaviour of the security forces monks have in past two years twice refused for weeks to take the "donations”, which form an integral part of Buddhism.

 

The protest of tens of thousands of monks against the military dictatorship in September 2007 roused attention throughout the world. Thereupon more than 60 Buddhist monasteries were stormed by security forces and some destroyed. Nuns and monks were arbitrarily beaten, arrested, tortured and stripped of their clothing against all precepts of Buddhism. While the authorities admit the violent deaths of only ten monks, local human rights organisations consider that the numbers of dead go into the hundreds. There are in Burma some 400,000 monks.

 

Ulrich Delius can also be reached at u.delius@gfbv.de