Myanmar's NLD sees new crackdown coming

Myanmar's NLD sees new crackdown coming

By Rajan Moses

BANGKOK (Reuters): Myanmar's ruling junta has forcibly fed the
opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) a dose of bitter
preventive medicine by jailing a prominent woman leader of the
organization, analysts said on Wednesday.

The ruling State Peace and Development Council's (SPDC) jailed
the NLD's San San for breaching conditions of an amnesty under
which she was released from prison while serving a 25-year
sentence for treason.

A senior NLD leader, Tin Oo, told Reuters the jailing of San
San indicated the SPDC had resumed harassing the opposition and
signaled a new crackdown.

In past months, the SPDC allowed NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi
to hold party meetings at her lakeside residence in Yangon, but
stopped her from holding meetings in the townships.

"The sentence signals the resumption of political harassment
and a crackdown on the opposition to deter us from doing our
duty," Tin Oo said.

But Yangon-based diplomats said the move may simply be a
warning to the NLD not to rock the status quo.

"It may be a warning to the NLD on its future activities. The
message to the NLD may be...don't stage activities against the
government and there is possibility for a dialogue, but if you do
something we will take action," said an Asian diplomat.

San San, 60, was formerly deputy chairman of the NLD's Yangon
division and a leading member of its women's group.

On Tuesday, the exiled All Burma Students Democratic Front
(ABSDF) said she had been jailed for taking part in a British
Broadcasting Corp interview critical of the SPDC. The SPDC has
denied this.

Tin Oo said San San had answered questions from the media
because the telephones of other NLD leaders had been disconnected
and they could not be contacted.

Another diplomat said: "What has happened seems very much like
business as usual in Myanmar and I don't think it signals
anything one way or the other."

An SPDC spokesman said San San was jailed for breaching legal
conditions, but gave no details. "It is normal in any country to
take legal action against anyone for breaching rules and
regulations," he said.

"This is definitely not the start of a crackdown on the
opposition," he added.

The spokesman said the exiled student groups, Amnesty
International and others usually were critical of Myanmar around
the time the United Nation Commission on Human Rights met.

"These anti-Myanmar government elements have been playing this
game very annoyingly and have managed to dupe almost everyone,"
he added.

The UN body, at a meeting on Tuesday in Geneva, adopted a
European Union motion condemning Myanmar for human rights abuses
including extrajudicial executions, torture, and repression of
ethnic and religious minorities.

The military seized power in 1988 after a bloody crackdown
against pro-democracy protests. The NLD swept a 1990 general
election but the junta ignored the result.

It has ruled with an iron hand, detaining and releasing
thousands of NLD members and supporters and disrupting its
meetings.

"At the moment there is no positive sign in the political
field. The detention of NLD members continues and there has been
no dialogue between the two sides," said the Asian diplomat.

"The test could come by late May when the NLD usually holds
its party congress...to see what happens then," he added.

The SPDC tried to woo the NLD into a dialogue last year, but
overtures by the SPDC's Secretary One, Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, were
spurned.

The NLD said it could not have a dialogue with the junta
unless Nobel laureate Suu Kyi was included, but the SPDC has so
far refused.