04.02.2007
Candid Commentary
KNU Split & Resurgent Burmese Secret Service
By Dr. Tayza
We can say that Burmese SPDC military regime’s secret service has scored another goal by causing another unfortunate, and sad, split among the rank and file of the Karen ethnic resistance force Karen National Union (KNU).
This week we saw a break away group of Karen leaders led by Brigadier General Htein Maung tried to form a new Karen Union called Peace Council. Htein Maung is the leader of KNU 7th Brigade and responsible for KNU activities in Pa-an region. Since the time when the late KNU leader Saw Bo Mya was terminally ill, Burmese military has been wooing Saw Bo Mya’s family and some KNU leaders like Htein Maung to surrender. The new Burmese military intelligence service, formed after former spy-master Gen. Khin Nyunt’s demise, tried their best to drive a wedge between KNU 7th Brigade and KNU central. Burmese secret service even sent a high ranking agent_ a Colonel_ to negotiate 7th Brigade’s surrender. They promised a safe passage for Saw Bo Mya to go to the Capital Rangoon to take necessary medical treatments if 7th Brigade agrees to surrender.
But, as we understand, Saw Bo Mya rejected the offer_ as a true hero of his Karen national liberation movement, he would rather die than surrender and get medical treatment. And he died without surrendering to the enemy. But behind the back of Saw Bo Mya and KNU Central, Brigadier Htein Maung continued his secret negotiations with Burmese military intelligence officers.
Htein Maung accompanied Saw Bo Mya when he went to Rangoon in 2003 to make negotiations with former Burmese spy-master Gen. Khin Nyunt. They got “Gentlemen’s Agrrement” for cease fire. But it didn’t last long. After the sacking of politically savvy spymaster Khin Nyunt by military supremo Sen. Gen. Than Shwe, new hard-line Generals installed in Khin Nyunt’s place increased their demands. Instead of the agreed upon cease fire, they demanded total surrender, and so peace negotiations broke off.
So without KNU Central’s endorsement, Htein Maung’s unilateral agreement to surrender to Burmese military intelligence officers has no weight; in fact it’s null and void since it’s conception. And Htein Maung knows it very well. So to borrow weight from the late leader Saw Bo Mya, Htein Maung put the names of Saw Bo Mya’s wife and son to his Peace Council, which no body apart from himself and Burmese military spies recognizes.
To confuse everybody, Htein Maung even goes a step further and declared that he has taken over-all command of the KNU and scrapped KNU central by his authority. And his Peace Council issued many ridiculous statements this week. We, BURMA DIGEST, got half a dozen or more statements, and requests to publish the statements, from Htein Maung’s Peace Council, which we do not oblige because we simply cannot give platform to turn-coats.
We just want to see solidarity inside Karen national movement. And we believe that the Karen National Union will be able to overcome any split and crisis caused by Burmese Regime’s military spies, and the Karen national movement will thrive on until Karen people, along with Burmese democrats, can restore true liberty and genuine democracy in our country.
KNU split shows resurgence of Burmese secret services. During the peak era of former master Khin Nyunt, Burmese spies in a similar manner caused a split between KNU's Buddhist and Christian factions. But soon after Khin Nyunt's purge, Burmese spy organization became very weak; let alone causing split in the opposition, they were fully occupied with patching up splits in their own rank and files. But now after a few years they have regained their strength as well as confidence.
And they are starting to resume their dirty jobs. Burmese military spies recently formed a fake vigilant student organization and they exploded a few bombs here and there inside Burma. They even this week made a bomb attack in Mon State to disrupt Mon National Day celebrations in Mon State. Whenever a bomb explodes, the fake vigilant or vigorous student group make claims that they are responsible for the bombings. Their aim is to paint a black picture of the real student pro-democracy activists who never have anything to do with violence.
And with the help of their lap-dogs, the Union Solidarity Development Association or Kyant Phuts, Burmese secret services are successfully orchestrating fake public rallies in Rangoon and other cities to denounce western governments which put forward a formal discussion in UN Security Council to take actions on deteriorating human rights situations in Burma.
As regime's supremo Sen. Gen. Than Shwe now knows that he has at best just a few years more to live, because of his diabetes, hypertension and large-intestinal tumour, he is very eager to make sure a smooth transition to a military-controlled semi-civilian puppet government system under their pro-military constitution as soon as possible; to be able to anoint a trusted protégé as his successor, for the safety of his family and their fortunes after his death. So, accordingly, regime's secret services in collaboration with their militant semi-political Kyant Phut organization are now ready to craft an ultimate elimination of all political opposition inside the country, in the border region and abroad.
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Comments:
Mali Hkrang said _
Dear KNU and Karen people, ....
Such a sad news again!
Kachin peace negotiators Lahtaw Hkun Myat_a Kachin businessman from Rangoon and
James Lum Dau of KIO Deputy Foreign Affairs might be also behind strongly
pursuing to those Karen splinter group leaders I can sense that ideology and
approaching to fight Burmese regime among the ethnic groups are also
conflicting. Some people are just looking for short term survivals.
I beg the KNU GHQ and KNU 7th Brigade not to fight each other please. Please
keep unity for Karen people's causes despite diverse political ideology.
I am sure we will win someday.
Love from,
Myitkyina, Kachinland
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