Myanmar monk's three demands

Myanmar monks' three demand

Based at a monastery in the northern city of Mandalay, Uppekha said he and other monks at the monastery wanted to join the protests, but that their monastery had been surrounded by soldiers.
Speaking by telephone from inside the monastery, he told Al Jazeera of the measures the monks were calling for:

"There are three steps that we want.

1) "The first step is to reduce all commodity prices, fuel prices, rice and cooking oil prices immediately.

2) "The second step – release all political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and all detainees arrested during ongoing demonstrations over the fuel price hike.

3) "The third step – enter a dialogue with pro-democracy forces for national reconciliation immediately, to resolve the crisis and difficulties facing and suffered by the people.

WHAT THE WEST CALLED REVOLUTION WHY??

Uppekha said he had expected more help from the UN and emphasised that all the protests had been peaceful.

Monks have formed the vanguard of opposition to Myanmar's military government
[Reuters]

Uppekha is Buddhist monk and member of the All Burma Buddhist Monks Alliance, one of the groups that has led the wave of anti-government protests in
Myanmar.
Based at a monastery in the northern city of Mandalay, Uppekha said he and other monks at the monastery wanted to join the protests, but that their monastery had
been surrounded by soldiers.
Speaking by telephone from inside the monastery, he told Al Jazeera of the measures the monks were calling for:

"There are three steps that we want.
"The first step is to reduce all commodity prices, fuel prices, rice and cooking oil prices immediately.
"The second step – release all political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and all detainees arrested during ongoing demonstrations over the fuel price hike.
"The third step – enter a dialogue with pro-democracy forces for national reconciliation immediately, to resolve the crisis and difficulties facing and suffered by the
people.

Uppekha said he had expected more help from the UN and emphasised that all the protests had been peaceful.
He said: "We have a chance to create our own rights. We have a chance to create our own freedom.

"We are peaceful demonstrators but the government is taking this violent crackdown. We are suffering violence from a military junta.

"We dont understand why the UN aren't helping us. They are just talking, talking, blowing in the wind."

Restraint urged to ease Myanmar tension
By Qin Jize (China Daily/Xinhua)Updated: 2007-09-28 07:21

Beijing Thursday urged all parties in Myanmar to show restraint and "properly handle" the current situation.
"As a neighbor, China is paying great attention to the situation in Myanmar," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular press briefing.
She called on parties concerned to prevent the situation from becoming more complicated and spreading; and not to allow it to affect peace and stability in Myanmar and the surrounding region.
Jiang made the remarks amid reports of several deaths in clashes between soldiers and thousands of protestors led by Buddhist monks in Myanmar's biggest city of Yangon.
Soldiers fired automatic weapons at a crowd of demonstrators on Thursday after they ignored orders to disband.
Several people, including a Japanese video journalist, have been found dead following the protests, Japanese embassy officials in Yangon said Thursday, citing Myanmar officials.
Myanmar's official newspaper Thursday blamed "saboteurs inside and outside the nation" for causing the protests in Yangon, and said the demonstrations were much smaller than the foreign media were reporting.
The New Light of Myanmar newspaper said in an editorial: "Certain Western media and anti-government media are broadcasting leading news stories and distorted news stories to stir up the mass protests."
The protests, which began on August 19, were initially sparked by high fuel prices but have since swelled.
China hopes Myanmar will commit itself to improving people's livelihood and safeguarding the rapprochement among different ethnic groups so that peace and stability are restored as soon as possible, Jiang said.
She refuted reports that China had not exerted its full influence on the issue.
"We have noticed the false reports by some media," said Jiang. "They are totally slanderous and reflect ulterior motives."
China hopes international media reports are objective and "do not add fuel to the fire", she said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said earlier on Wednesday that he would send Ibrahim Gambari as his special envoy to Myanmar.
"China supports the UN secretary-general and his special envoy's mediation activities in the Myanmar issue," the spokeswoman said.

Nepal Revisionist EXPOSED!

Photo: AP Turmoil in Nepal: Supporters of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) take out a rally in Kathmandu on Tuesday after the party quit the coalition government. The Maoists warned of widespread protests if the government failed to abolish the monarchy and declare Nepal a republic.

Maoists quit Nepal government
Ameet Dhakal

This follows the Prime Minister’s refusal to bow to their demand to declare the country a republic

KATHMANDU: The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has quit the five-month-old coalition government, dealing a huge blow to the nascent peace process.
The Maoists decided to quit the government after Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala refused to bow to their demand to declare Nepal a republic through the interim-legislature.
Four Maoist Ministers submitted their resignation on Tuesday afternoon after the hectic negotiations among the top leaders of the eight-party alliance in the morning failed to reach an agreement. Though the Maoists have walked away from the government, they have not dumped the peace process. They have said they would not pick up arms again. “We will focus on peaceful agitation to fulfil our demands,” Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Maoist politburo member, told reporters after submitting his resignation.
Addressing a mass meeting organised by his party at the open-air theatre in the capital after the failed negotiation, the Maoist second-in-command, Babu Ram Bhattrai, said: “The Constituent Assembly election cannot be held so long as the monarchy exists. Now our party will bring a republic through street agitation.”
He added that the election programme announced by the Election Commission was not acceptable to his party any more.
“The election code of conduct announced by the Election Commission is not acceptable to us,” he explained. But he would not say if his party would take part in the CA poll slated for November 22.
Interestingly, CPN (Maoist) chairman Prachanda, who was also supposed to address the mass meeting, did not show up at the eleventh hour, citing health reasons.
Observers speculate that Prachanda chose to remain absent in the meeting to keep room open for negotiations with the coalition partners.
The general secretary of Communist Party of Nepal (UML) said that the top leaders of the eight-party alliance, including the Maoists, have agreed to sit for dialogue on Wednesday morning. “The Maoists have left the government, but they haven’t walked out of the peace process. We are still hopeful of an agreement,” he said.
The Minister for Peace and Reconstruction, Ram Chandra Poudel, also expressed confidence that the latest political development would not derail the peace process. “We are still hopeful that the Maoists would come back to the negotiating table and we will reach consensus.” He also said the government was ready to fulfil 20 of the 22 demands submitted by the Maoists.
Maoists came to the political mainstream after the success of the April uprising in 2006 and joined the coalition government on April 1, 2007. A decade-long insurgency led to the death of over 13,000 Nepalis.