Chiang Mai - Burma's main opposition party, National League for Democracy (NLD), on Monday denied the ruling junta's claim that members of the party are responsible for bomb blasts in the country.
During a rare press conference on Sunday, the country's Police Chief, Brigadier General Khin Yi, told reporters that it had arrested several opposition activists, including members of the NLD, in connection with planting bombs and conducting subversive activities.
Khin Yi said NLD members Yan Shwe, Zaw Zaw Aung and Myint Aye, that last of whom is also a member of the Human Rights Defenders and Promoters Network (HRDP), were arrested with explosives and accused of the blasts at an office of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) – a junta-backed civilian organization – in Rangoon's suburban township of Shwepyithar.
However the NLD said it has been following a policy of non-violence and those persons mentioned by the government had been previously dismissed from the party.
"They [the government] cannot prove their evidence, and we take it as just an unfounded accusation," commented NLD spokesperson Nyan Win.
Khin Yi also accused the exile-based NLD-Liberated Area (NLD-LA), as well as the Forum for Democracy, of helping to obtain funding from donors, including the U.S.-based Open Society Institute (OSI) and National Endowment for Democracy (NED), for terrorist acts conducted inside Burma.
He added that Myint Aye, who is a key contact person with the exile opposition groups, has confessed that he offered cash awards to those who committed terrorist acts in Rangoon.
According to Khin Yi, Myint Aye's cash awards differed depending on the location of the blast, with 10 million kyat awarded for bombing City Hall, 7 million for the city center, 5 million for government offices, 2 million for township peace and development council offices, 1.5 million for township USDA offices and the Rangoon Railway Station, 1 million for traffic lights, 0.5 million for junctions and crossroads and 0.2 million for less prominent locations (1 dollar equals approximately 1,250 kyat).
The Burmese police chief said Yan Shwe directly received explosives from Myint Aye, but was denied his due cash award for planting the bomb at the USDA office in Shwepyithar on July 1.
Yet, contrary to Khin Yi's statement, an armed student group known as the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors (VBSW), on July 2 claimed responsibility for the blast at the Shwepyithar USDA office.
The VBSW, in a statement posted on an exile Burmese blog, claimed the blast was carried out by their members, who are urging the junta to implement political reforms in the country.
The VBSW also confessed that it was been behind the bomb blast near the ABC Restaurant in downtown Rangoon on April 20, and that they have further targeted vehicles owned by USDA officials.
The group said they will continue with their acts, but would avoid damage to the public, as a means of pressuring the government to stop their tyranny and to embark on a process of national reconciliation.
Meanwhile, the NLD-LA in Thailand denied the government's accusations, saying it was an act to blackmail the NLD's image by accusing its members of conducting terrorist acts.
Nyo Ohn Myint, the Foreign Affairs In-Charge of the NLD-LA, remarked: "We always maintain a policy of non-violence; it [government accusation] is purely to blackmail the NLD. If we would have chosen violence, we would not have come this far."
Critics view that the government, by increasingly arresting activists in recent months, is trying to prevent any kind of movement that might spark into yet more protests similar to the September 2007 protests led by Buddhist monks.
Nyan Win, a NLD spokesperson said, "We don't know what the government's intentions are, but what is certain is the increased arrest of our party members as well as activists."
Edited by Mungpi
