BurmaNet News, March 28, 2006

[Editor]

March 28, 2006 Issue # 2928


INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Burma's opposition calls for Aung San Suu Kyi's release and dialogues
IMNA: ALD demands withdrawal of Daewoo
Guardian: No democracy or phone lines in Burma's new jungle capital
The Times: Thousands lose homes to capital in the jungle
Reuters: Myanmar junta's number two general to visit Russia

ON THE BORDER
IMNA: Computer and English short term school for Tsunami migrant children
Narinjara: Bangladesh border with Burma and India unprotected

BUSINESS / TRADE
Asia Pulse: Gail India gets 8 EOIS from shipping firms to bring Myanmar Gas

HEALTH / AIDS
DVB: US medical experts say restrictions in Burma worsen disease spread

OPINION/OTHER
Irrawaddy: Than Shwe’s road to ruin
New Straits Times: Myanmar's runaround treatment not unusual
Bangkok Post: Burma shows its most ugly face

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

March 27, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burma's opposition calls for Aung San Suu Kyi's release and dialogues

Burma's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) called for the
release of its leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners
including Shan leader Htun Oo, and consider its requests in the special
statement – for the sake of national reconciliation and unity.

The call was made in a statement issued on 27 March during a ceremony
marking the 61st anniversary of the resistance of the people of Burma
against the fascists in 1945. The ceremony was attended by 400 people,
including Western diplomatic officials and UN representatives. The NLD
also urged the junta to create an appropriate political climate and
initiate substantive political dialogue with the opposition.

Similarly, Burma’s Veteran Politicians who personally took part in the
struggle against fascism held a similar ceremony and urged the ruling
generals to hold meaningful dialogues with the opposition in a statement.
The generals should learn from the fact that 61 years ago, the founder of
modern Burma Army, General Aung San opposed the fascist Japanese together
with ethnic national leaders, said the veterans.

They also insisted that only when the generals work with the election
winning NLD and ethnic national leaders, would the existing problems of
Burma could be overcome.

____________________________________

March 27, Independent Mon News Agency
ALD demands withdrawal of Daewoo

The Arakan League for Democracy (ALD) has demand the immediate withdrawal
of Daewoo International from Burma as its investments will bring in its
wake human rights violations, environmental degradation, and help further
entrench the Burmese military regime.

The ALD called for mass protest against Daewoo for its investment in
national gas exploration and exploitation off the coast of Arakan in
western Burma , according to its statement today.

Environment and human rights activists will demonstrate in front of the
Korean embassies and Daewoo International offices in more than 20
countries on April 18, according to the statement.

The Burmese people should know that the investment will not benefit the
Arakanese including the whole of Burma ,” said Swe Thant, ALD secretary in
Thailand.

Daewoo, which holds a 60 percent stake in the project, will support
whatever the Burmese regime does because of its business. The company will
produce gas for their long-term benefit. It will have a severe long-term
affect on the people due to its agreement from 2010 to 2030, the ALD
secretary added.

The sale proceeds of gas are the main income for the military. The revenue
will keep Burma away from achieving a democratic government the statement
said.

The regime has increased the number of troops in the gas exploration site
citing reasons of security of the gas. During its operations more than 10
villages were relocated. Moreover the military used the villagers for
forced labour, destroyed villages, confiscated land and raped women,
according to the ALD secretary.

According to the statement, when the Yadana gas pipeline in the Tenasserim
region of Burma was under construction to transport gas for offshore
facility in the Andaman Sea to Thailand , the regime created a highly
militarised corridor along the pipeline areas.

____________________________________

March 28, The Guardian
No democracy or phone lines in Burma's new jungle capital - John Aglionby

Burma's increasingly reclusive and repressive military junta showed off
its mysterious new capital, Naypyidaw, to outsiders yesterday for the
first time, during a ceremony to mark Armed Forces Day.

The country's paramount leader, General Than Shwe, used his speech at the
parade of 12,000 soldiers to announce that his much-promised transition to
democracy would still take "some time", a direct contradiction of recent
promises made to neighbouring countries' leaders.

Buried deep within the country's dense mountainous jungle, Naypyidaw, a
heavily fortified compound meaning Royal City, is just outside the town of
Pyinmana, 230 miles north of Rangoon, which remains the commercial centre.

The generals claim it will be easier to run Burma from the purpose-built
"command and control centre", which is not complete four months after
civil servants were secretly whisked off to it from their homes and
offices in Rangoon. The new buildings on show on state television
yesterday looked impressive, as did huge statues of three of Burma's most
famous kings that stared down on to the parade ground.

However, the lack of facilities, including such basics as telephone lines,
and poor access to the rest of the country has prompted virtually all
embassies, aid agencies and international organisations to stay in
Rangoon.

There are widespread rumours that the move was prompted by rampant
paranoia and astrologers' advice.

"They say they've moved there to avert disaster and threats to their
security," said a Burma activist, Debbie Stothard. "But they've also done
it to insulate themselves from the follies of their own misrule."

Gen Than Shwe said the military had to be "strong, efficient, patriotic
and modern . . . to ward off any danger befalling the country". He warned:
"Today, the armed forces and the people are striving together for the
emergence of a democratic state and these are tasks which need time to be
implemented."

Virtually all observers say such statements are an excuse not to hand over
power to Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy won the
last election in 1990 but was not allowed to rule. Malaysia's foreign
minister, Syed Hamid Albar, said yesterday that he had not been allowed to
meet Ms Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest, during a visit last week to
Burma. "They told me that Aung San Suu Kyi has no more influence, that the
NLD has no more influence," he said.

____________________________________

March 28, The Times
Thousands lose homes to capital in the jungle - Richard Lloyd Parry

Even by Burma's bizarre standards it was a mysterious move motivated
partly by paranoia, partly by superstition and partly by practicality.

But now the decision to relocate the capital from the 250-year-old port of
Rangoon to a small, remote town in the jungle is threatening a refugee
crisis.

According to non-governmental organisations in eastern Burma, thousands of
unarmed civilians have been driven from their homes by government soldiers
who are securing the country's new administrative centre, the town of
Pyinmana.

The UN has recorded a 15-fold surge in the number of refugees crossing
into Thailand. According to refugees and Christian aid groups, thousands
more are trapped in the jungle, their escape route blocked by government
troops.

Refugees and aid workers described how soldiers of the Burmese junta had
forced civilians to labour in their camps, burning villages and murdering
their inhabitants. "Five of our neighbours were killed by the military,"
said Maw Leah, who had spent ten days travelling to the border. "They set
up military camps, they force us to work for them. If we don't, they make
us pay them. We couldn't exist any more in our own homes."

"The problem is the ones that we cannot reach," said Nay Thablay, an
activist and member of the Karen ethnic minority in Oo Dak Klo. "Many of
them are stuck in the jungle and no one can get to them." For decades
Burma's notorious junta, the State Peace and Development Council, has
fought insurgents of the Karen ethnic minority along the border with
Thailand. Central parts of the country around Pyinmana have been spared
the worst of its depredations. Then last November, Burmese officials and
foreign diplomats were amazed to learn that the country's administrative
functions were to be moved from Rangoon to Pyinmana. The main exodus
occurred at 11am on November 11, when 1,100 army trucks departed, carrying
11 military battalions and staff from 11 government ministries.

There is much speculation about the reasons for the move. As named members
of what Condoleezza Rice called the "outposts of tyranny", the generals
may have felt exposed in Rangoon. Apart from being farther from the reach
of any ocean-borne enemy task force, Pyinmana is also sequestered from
supporters of the opposition National League for Democracy and its leader,
Aung San Suu Kyi,who is held in Rangoon under house arrest.

But it is also closer to the rebellious Karen and Shan states, and a good
base for their pacification. And it is this that seems to have caused the
new refugee problem. According to Hanne Mathisen, of the UN High
Commission for Refugees in northwest Thailand, the typical number of
Burmese crossing into Mae Hong Son was 15 to 20 a month. Since December,
however, 900 have made the journey.

In December Burmese troops appeared close to Sha See Bo, a village of 200
people.

On January 6, one man, Bray Gi, was shot dead. Two days later five more
disappeared. Three weeks later their bodies were found in shallow graves.
"They had been tortured to death," Maw Leah said. "We don't know how
things will be in Thailand. But it is impossible for us to stay in our
village."

____________________________________

March 28, Reuters
Myanmar junta's number two general to visit Russia - Aung Hla Tun

Yangon: The number two general in army-ruled Myanmar is expected to visit
Russia, a key supplier of arms and military training to the former Burma,
next month, diplomats said on Tuesday.

Vice Senior General Maung Aye is the highest-ranking junta member to visit
Moscow as the regime, shunned by the West and an embarrassment to its
neighbors, reaches out to an ever-shrinking circle of friends.

"As far as we can confirm the visit will take place in early April and a
big entourage will accompany him," a Yangon-based Asian diplomat told
Reuters.

The visit was confirmed by a senior government official, but he gave no
details. Since the current group of generals seized power in 1988, Russia
has been a key player in fulfilling the regime's ambition to modernize its
armed forces. Moscow sold at least 10 supersonic MIG-29 fighters to
Myanmar in 2002, part of an arms-buying spree that included howitzers,
armored personnel carriers and patrol vessels from suppliers such as
China, India, Ukraine and others.

Myanmar has also sent more than 1,500 military personnel for training in
Russia, government officials say. Analysts say the junta wants to
strengthen ties with Russia and China, both veto-wielding members on the
U.N. Security Council which do not take such a dim view of Myanmar's
failure to embrace meaningful democratic reforms. Myanmar has also sought
closer commercial and strategic links with neighboring India.

"Having close ties with these three powerful allies will give the regime a
cushion against mounting pressure by anyone, the international community,
the West or ASEAN," said a Yangon university professor who declined to be
named. Criticism of Myanmar from within the 10-nation Association of South
East Asian Nations (ASEAN) grouping has grown as democracy icon Aunt San
Sue Kyiv remains confined to her home nearly three years after her May
2003 arrest.

The latest attempt to cajole Myanmar into accelerating political reforms
ended abruptly last week when Malaysian Foreign Minister Side Humid Alba
cut short a fact-finding trip after he was refused a meeting with Sue
Kyiv. Myanmar has proposed a seven-step "roadmap to democracy" but the
military, which has ruled the former Burma since 1962, says it is still
only midway through the first step, drafting a new constitution, and will
not set a timetable.

Side Humid said on Tuesday the junta was moving too slowly on democracy
and ASEAN would decide its next step at a foreign ministers meeting in
Bali. Analysts have speculated that the generals, fed up with the
criticism from their neighbors, may one day pull out of ASEAN.

"I don't think the military government would hesitate to leave ASEAN if it
pressured them into making faster democratic reforms," said political
analyst U Win Naing.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

March 27, Independent Mon News Agency
Computer and English short term school for Tsunami migrant children - Chan
Mon

“When I finish my higher education I will be a teacher,” said Kyaw Win
Soe, a Tsunami affected migrant child, who was selected as a scholar
student to join computer and English short term school in Pang Nga area.

“I am happy to have been given a chance study,” said Kyaw Win Soe (11) who
was born in Thailand . He was selected by teachers to study at the school
for five weeks run by Grassroots Human Rights Education.

“I am terribly happy. I can't express how happy I feel happy for my son,”
said Nai Thein father of Kyaw Soe Win who has been working in Thailand for
16 years.

“I want to see my son receiving higher education and I want to see him as
a teacher,” explained Nai Thein who joined the opening ceremony of the
school along with about 60 people.

The school has been named “Young Minds of the Future” and the teachers
teach in English, explained Grassroots Human Rights Education director, Ko
Htoo Chit.

“We want migrant children of Tsunami affected people to receive higher
education,” he added.

The school was opened for the first time and was called Summer Camp 2006
where 20 children were selected from four schools, which were opened for
Tsunami migrant children last year.

Grassroots Human Rights Education has opened six primary schools in Phang
Nga area for migrant workers children.

More than 300 migrant children have studied in the school and Grassroots
Human Rights Education also plans to open a middle school in the coming
year.

Migrant workers are planning to open a new school in Ban Khok Kloi in Phan
Nga province for migrant workers children who seek work in the area.

Organizations helping migrants held a discussion with migrant workers in
the area and negotiated with local employees to set up the school.

“We plan to open it in the coming year in June,” a monk who was at the
discussion said.

____________________________________

March 28, Narinjara News
Bangladesh border with Burma and India unprotected - Iftekhar Ahmed

Nearly 500 kilometers of border shared with Burma and India in the
southeastern Chittagong Hill Tracts have remained unprotected for too
long, making the remote hill districts a safe haven for gun runners and
foreign insurgents, a parliamentary committee of Bangladesh told
parliament during its last session recently.

In view of this disclosure, the committee of CHT (Chittagong Hill Tracts)
affairs ministry suggested that the government encourage heightened
vigilance by the border security forces.

The Bangladesh government should set up 58 more border outposts along the
unprotected frontiers in the three districts of Khagrachari, Bandarban,
and Rangamati, the committee suggested.

The meeting witnessed expressions of grave concern over arms smuggling
through the CHT. The members also reviewed the recent recovery of a large
cache of arms and ammunition from the hill districts and made observations
on the activities of criminals, in particular Burma-based insurgents.

Joint forces of the Bangladesh Army and the paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles
have recently recovered a huge cache of sophisticated arms, explosives and
ammunitions from the border region.

The committee also recommended that the ministry take stern and necessary
measures to control the tribal people of Bangladesh, as well as
non-tribals from Bangladesh's neighboring countries.

____________________________________
BUSINESS/TRADE

March 28, Asia Pulse
Gail India gets 8 EOIS from shipping firms to bring Myanmar Gas

State-run Gail India (BSE:532155) on Monday said eight shipping firms and
consortia, including Mitsui and Marubeni of Japan and Exmar of Belgium
have shown interest in transporting CNG from its gas blocks in Myanmar to
India.

GAIL had sought Expressions of Interest from national and international
companies or consortia for transporting gas from block A1 in CNG form.
This could be the world's first CNG shipping time chartering service, Gail
said in a release.

EOIs have been submitted by a consortium of EnerSea Transport LLC from
USA, MitSui K-Line and others; a consortium of TransCanada and others;
Norway's Knutsen OAS Shipping; Malaysia International Shipping Corp and
Marubeni Corp of Japan along with Sea NG Management Corp Of Canada.

Besides, Belgium's Exmar Marine; Canada's Forbes Bumi Armada-led
consortium and Ardeshir Cursetjee & Sons Ltd of Mumbai are in the fray.

GAIL would now float Request for Qualification proposal before tying up
with a consortia, it said.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

March 28, Democratic Voice of Burma
US medical experts say restrictions in Burma worsen disease spread

The spread of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and avian flu has become
worse in Burma due to draconian restrictions by the ruling junta, the
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), according to a report
published by US medical experts on 27 March.

The 80-pages report which was jointly researched and written by Dr. Chris
Beyer and six other medical experts from John Hopkins Bloomberg
University’s School of Public Health, details the spread of HIV/AIDS, TB,
malaria and bird flu in Burma.

According to the statistics of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in
2000, one in 29 adults in Burma had HIV, and between 40,000 and 80,000
sufferers had died within the year. But the SPDC Health ministry’s list
said that only 800 people died from the disease.

Moreover, Burma is said to be among 22 countries which have the worse
cases of tuberculosis and there are 97,000 new patients each year, and
therefore, 40% of Burma’s population could be sufferers of the disease.
According to the statistics of the junta, in 2005 there were more than
700,000 malaria suffers and many of them are of the high risk group.

While the public health condition is that dire, the restrictions of
humanitarian groups by the ruling junta is posing a real threat of the
diseases widely spreading into the neighbouring countries, according to
Beyer.

____________________________________
OPINION/OTHER

March 28, Irrawaddy
Than Shwe’s Road to Ruin

Burma’s decision to hold this year’s 61st annual Armed Forces Day at the
new administrative capital of Naypyidaw in central Burma came as no
surprise.

Neither did the substance of junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe’s address to a
crowd of 12,000 soldiers and a host of diplomats and other special guests.
Unwilling to relinquish power to a civilian government, Than Shwe instead
fell back on the well-worn rhetoric of fear.

“We have conceived a plan so that our people can avoid the danger of
facing a perilous solution that could lead to the country’s annihilation,”
Than Shwe said.

That perilous solution apparently means any meaningful step towards
legitimate democratic reform. That process, outlined by the junta’s
seven-step roadmap, will be slow—not exactly a startling revelation to the
millions of people languishing under his iron grip on the state.

Burma’s immediate concern, according to general, is to expand and
modernize the Tatmadaw [armed forces]. “In order to ward off any danger
befalling the country, our military, together with our people, must be
strong, efficient, patriotic and modern.”

He added that the armed forces “should be worthy heirs to the traditions
of the capable military established by the notable kings Anawarahta,
Bayint Naung and Alaung Phaya U Aung Zeya.”

Noticeably omitted was Gen Aung San, founder of Burma’s modern armed
forces and the father of its independence movement. Perhaps Than Shwe
thought it inappropriate to invoke the father of Nobel laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi, who currently languishes under house arrest, and who—in the minds
of many in Burma and throughout the world—is the country’s true hope for
democratic reform.

Than Shwe added a masterful rhetorical flourish that all but undermined
his insistence that the country was moving, albeit slowly, towards
democracy: “Whatever political or economic system the country practices,
prevalence of peace and tranquility, prevalence of national sovereignty
and security of life and property of the people are the requisites of a
State.”

In other words, Burma’s military dictator stated that the path to
democracy is to bolster the power of its unelected and illegitimate rulers
by increasing and modernizing the military, which keeps them in power.

Than Shwe addressed these words—part of a 12-minute speech—on the new
parade ground of the government’s new administrative city. The new complex
is rumored to have cost as much as US $10 million to date. Since 2003,
Burma’s defense expenditures have annually exceeded $1 billion.

All this, while the country faces mounting humanitarian crises—including
its first confirmed case of avian flu, and an ever-growing fear of an
HIV/AIDS epidemic. The junta’s record on defense is clear. No expenditure
is too large. Apparently, healthcare plays a non-vital role in the
“prevalence of peace” and the “security of life.”

It strains credibility to think that none of the reportedly 12,000
soldiers listening to Than Shwe objected to his prescribed path to a
modern and democratic Burmese State—a path that leads increasingly towards
greater darkness and despair.

And if they did object, one might easily wonder whether these young
military men will ever move to replace an aging dictator with a man like
Aung San, whose vision for Burma had nothing to do with personal profits
and costly monuments like Naypyidaw to mythical military might, but rather
with the freedom and prosperity of all Burmese people.

____________________________________

March 28, New Straits Times
Myanmar's runaround treatment not unusual - Syed Nadzri

After all the anticipation, it seemed like an anti-climax that Foreign
Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar did not have much to report after his
short trip to Myanmar on Thursday and Friday.

This inference is sure to upset the minister who seemed to have placed
high priority on a mission in which others had failed. But before he blows
his top, look at how unfazed the military government has been in the face
of international pressure, and how much credibility is at stake here.

Yes, Syed Hamid did go finally after much dilly-dallying by the ruling
junta. Yes, he did carry a big mandate, being a special envoy despatched
by Asean to see political and economic developments in a country seen as a
thorn in the regional grouping's side.

And yes, the Myanmar Government gave him a list of actions it would take
in its road map to democracy.

But what else is new? What else to add to promises made to previous
envoys? What else, more than what the military rulers have been saying
whenever they come to the table in Asean meetings?

And no, Syed Hamid was not given the opportunity to see pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi. In fact, he didn't even get to see junta
strongman Senior General Than Shwe.

But since the foreign minister had said on Saturday that his visit was a
success, perhaps we should take his word for it.

"I told them it would have been better if I had been allowed to meet Suu
Kyi and other political leaders as it would be a step towards their
democratic reform," Syed Hamid said.

"The reason given for the prohibition was that Suu Kyi is under house
arrest and nobody is allowed to see her."

It looks like we have not moved much from Square One as the generals
continue to take everyone for a ride in as far as the so-called Road Map
to Democracy is concerned.

The step-by-step process they always talk about is taking forever.

Syed Hamid did not seem to break new ground on a mission that was
similarly embarked on previously by the likes of Special UN envoys Tan Sri
Razali Ismail and Ali Alatas.

Just look back at how Alatas was cleverly received the last time he was in
Myanmar some eight months ago - he was told constitutional talks (key to
the road map to democracy) would resume, he held a rare meeting with the
junta's top five leaders (including Than Shwe) to discuss reforms at the
UN, and later met organisers of a national convention charged with
drafting a new constitution.

At the end of it, Alatas said the meeting with constitutional talks
organisers and others with government-backed social groups were added to
his agenda by the junta.

"It was quite interesting, but I didn't come for this," he said.

In many ways Syed Hamid carried a bigger responsibility than his former
Indonesian counterpart, partly because Malaysia played a key role in
bringing Myanmar into Asean nine years ago, not knowing that it would turn
into the monster it has been made out to be by most of the Western world.

But thanks to the support of China, India and Thailand for military,
economic and strategic reasons, the ruling generals can afford to put a
dent in the credibility of just about anyone else.

____________________________________

March 28, Bangkok Post
Burma shows its most ugly face

Last December at their annual summit, the heads of Asean governments were
concerned enough by Burmese foot-dragging on democratic reform that they
appointed Malaysia to send a high-ranking envoy to the increasingly
isolated country, to determine just what was going on. The generals who
run Burma said they were too busy to receive such an envoy for the
following three months, but last week said they would welcome the Asean
representative.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar flew to Rangoon on a mission to see
junta and opposition leaders. His hosts refused to let him visit the new
capital, the president was still too busy to see him, democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi was inaccessible because of house arrest, and the
Malaysian chief diplomat was kept away from other opposition figures. With
nothing much to do, Mr Syed Hamid left Rangoon a day early and, in the
recent tradition of Asean, declared his visit a success.

In a way which he did not mean, he is right. Delegated by the nine other
Asean members to find out what was happening in Burma, Mr Syed Hamid did
that. Although few will be shocked, the Malaysian minister determined
officially that Burma has grown ever more reclusive. It also has become
more intolerant of the undeniably loyal opposition, nominally headed by
Aung San Suu Kyi. Although the Malaysian envoy seemed almost eager to
excuse his inability to see her _ "Suu Kyi is under house arrest and
nobody is allowed to see her," he said _ Burma's leading lady has often
received visitors when under house arrest in the past. Prime Minister Gen
Soe Win and Foreign Minister Nyan Win received the envoy, but junta leader
Senior General Than Shwe did not.

The two days of snubs to Mr Syed Hamid, and to the other nine Asean heads
of government, succeeded in updating the lack of reform. Indeed, they
confirmed recent reports that the Burmese generals were more violent, more
anti-democracy and more dismissive of outside opinion than ever. What is
unfortunate is that Mr Syed Hamid actually meant that he thought his trip
had made progress. After all, Gen Soe Win assured him steps to reform were
under active consideration.

Yesterday, Sen Gen Than Shwe told the armed forces the country was on the
road to democracy. That speech came about 17 and a half years after the
junta killed hundreds of pro-democracy protesters. The Aug 8, 1988
violence brought the current junta to power. Ever since, the generals have
assured the nation they were launching a programme to bring democratic
rule to Burma. They also have continually told this to Asean, which as a
group has swallowed this story and treated Burma as if it were a comradely
country with serious aspirations to improve the lot of the nation and its
people.

Mr Syed Hamid is charged now with making a report on his trip to the
annual meeting of Asean foreign ministers, in Bali on April 17-18. It is
time that a minister of the Malaysian's stature spoke frankly to his
counterparts, including the Burmese minister. He was asked to go to Burma
on behalf of all Asean nations because the other nine members of the group
were concerned that Burmese actions and policy are holding Asean back,
bringing disrespect from the around the world, and causing derision when
officials as high-ranking as Mr Syed Hamid claim that Burma is making
progress towards democratic reform.

It is not, and it is probably past time to begin calling Rangoon on it.
Last year, Asean allowed Burma to opt out of the annual rotation of being
Asean chairman. This year, Asean itself needs to tell its wayward member
and the world that it will no longer stand by while Burma abuses its own
citizens, its neighbours and the good name of Asean. It is not even
interference in Burmese affairs to demand that the country adhere to
minimum standards: join the region in fighting drug and people
traffickers, receive back and treat humanely its refugees, and stop
arresting and putting opposition leaders in solitary imprisonment without
charges. An honest report by Mr Syed Hamid could allow him to claim with a
straight face that his mission was a success.