Junta forces more crosses on Christians to carry

No.01 - 3/2007
1 March 2007
Human Rights
 
Junta forces more crosses on Christians to carry
 
The 23 January report by Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW): Carrying the Cross: The Military Regime's Campaign against Christians in Burma, like many other damning stories about the Burma Army's excesses, does not appear to have succeeded in keeping the generals in check, according to sources in eastern Shan State.
 
Three months ago, a new chief of Mongyu sub-township, Mongyawng township, 183 km from Maesai, arrived from Buthidaung, Arakan State. One of the first directives he issued to the local Christian community was not to celebrate Christmas.
 
Later during the first week of February, he ordered villagers in Mongyu to pull out the concrete posts put up by them to build a new church in place of the old one. "He was said to have done the same thing to Muslim mosques in Buthidaung (where sizable Muslim communities are located) before coming here," said a source in Kengtung.
 
There are 9 Roman Catholic and Baptist churches in Mongyu alone. "The deacon in Mongyawng, Paulu, could do nothing to intervene on our behalf," he added, "as his chapel had also been demolished by the authorities in January."
 
An unconfirmed report says another church in Monghpyak, between Kengtung and Tachilek, was also knocked down last Friday, 23 February.
 
Some of the clerics are also facing charges of setting up illegal organizations.
Maj Gen Min Aung Hlaing, Commander of the Kengtung-based Triangle Region Command, has reportedly appointed an inquiry committee, "more like the Inquisition," according to one source, to question the accused.
 
According to a secret document believed to have been leaked from a government ministry, entitled "Programme to destroy the Christian religion in Burma," the military regime is out to wipe out Christianity in the country, reported Sunday Telegraph, 21 January. The regime has denied authorship of the document.
 
Asoka (BC 269 – 229), considered the greatest among Buddhist kings, had adopted a policy of tolerance towards non-Buddhist faiths, yet Buddhism continued to flourish in its land of birth India until the 13th century.

                                                                                             ^{King Asoka}