Funeral of Pa Doh Mahn Shar

THE KAREN, AN ALL THE PEOPLE OF BURMA WILL BE FREE
I WAS BACK IN THAILAND IN FEBRUARY THIS YEAR TO VISIT MY LOVELY THAI PARTNER, NARUEMON "KOON NOOT" SUPSAN, FOR SAINT VALENTINE'S DAY SO WE BOTH COULD HAVE A WELL DESERVED BREAK FROM WORK AND GO ON A ROMANTIC HOLIDAY TOGETHER. I DID INDEED MEET UP WITH NOOT ON THE 14TH IN THE BORDER TOWN OF MAE SOT, AS WE PLANNED. AND EVEN SPENT OUR IS MORNING TOGETHER IN A VERY LONG TIME. BUT, UNFORTUNATELY THAT VERY SAME DAY THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF BURMA'S LARGEST REBEL GROUP THAT I SEEKING A PEACE SETTLEMENT, THE KAREN NATIONAL UNION, WAS ASSASSINATED. Pa Doh Mahn Shar Lah Phan, who was is sixties, was shot at his home in this Thai border town. Mae Sot is somewhat of a 'mini-Burma' and many rebel groups base themselves there. He was targeted by two men in a pick-up-truck, while on he veranda of his home. He is said to have died instantly. ... the KNU and its military wing, the Karen National Liberation Army, have spent nearly 60 years fighting the Burmese government. They are trig to establish an autonomous Karen state in the east of Burma. The KNU/KNLA protects the Karen people from abuses and atrocities carried out by the military regime. Despite their world renowned fighting spirit, the Karen rebels have suffered a number of setbacks recently, which include political split an defections to the junta. The KNU, through its armed wing the KNLA, has been fighting for greater autonomy since 1949. The KNLA split in half in 1994, with a new group the DKBA, making a pact and allying itself with the junta. The KNU and the junta reached a 'gentleman's agreement' in 2003, but it quickly broke down as the junta clearly had no real intention to keep it. Mahn Shar read History at Yangon University and was sponsored by Mahn Ba Zan, Robert's father, but in 1962 he joined the Karen movement in the jungle bases on the Thai-Burmese border. He was one of the leading light in the KNU being groomed to take over the troubled leadership. Indeed he was General Saw Bo Mya' aide de camp for a long time before Bo Mya resigned due to his failing health. Mahn Shar became General Secretary of the KNU just as it had to face serious internal conflicts which came to a head after the death of General Saw Bo Mya at Christmas Eve 2006. Mahn Shar was very much a veteran of the Karen Peoples struggle for for dignity and independence. He was highly respected among both ethnic and Burman allies. While the Burmese military junta viewed him as a strong leader with whom they could have genuine politcal dialogue. He saw his mission for bringing unity and solidarity to the Karen and negotiating a just peace settlement for his people and all the peoples of Burma. The Karen are just one of many ethnic minorities in Burma. Much smaller rebel groups still exists in the adjacent Shan, Karenni and Mon states. Militarily, the Karen have been driven further and further back towards the Thai border. Last year Pa Doh Mahn Shar said: Whatever happens, we cannot surrender...If the government won't offer us a proper peace settlement, we have to carry on fighting." His death has been a very serious blow to the democracy movement in Burma as a whole, occurring as it did just before the Constitution Referendum which is being held as I write. Mahn Shar predicted an increase in bloodshed ahead of this very contraversial event! He said that the Burmese military had issued a hit list for various prominent people to be killed. He is survived by his wife and three children, two daughters and one son, whom have released a statement:- "...He dedicated his life to the struggle, and always, put the welfare of his people and his country before himself. His example of determination and self-sacrifice to win our freedom won him the love and respect of not just the Karen people, but also the Burmese democracy movement and of freedom loving people around the world...We are proud to be his children, as all karen people and all people who long for freedom in Burma are proud of him. Our father maybe dead but we will remember him. He taught us that it was our duty to work for the Karen people, and as his children we continue his dedicated work towards true freedom for our people and peace in our country. His determination for freedom and democracy lives on within us and within the Karen People. He did not live to see freedom for our people, but his dream will be fulfilled. The Karen, and all the people of Burma, will be free."
I was invited to go to rebel held area of the Karen State in Burma to attend Pa Doh Mahn Shar's funeral in the GHQ camp of the 7th brigade of the KNLA. I did so with members of a youth movement from the Arakan State in the west of Burma. While he lived he was the embodiment of magnanimity and equanimity. He is so sorely missed, but the work which all live in dignity will go on, for all who love freedom and justice will continue on inspired by his stand and his sacrifice. As I write this a massive international aid effort the cyclone NARGIS victims of the devasted Burma was being kept on hold by the country's isolationist and secretive junta. The entire lower delta region is under water, 25,000 people have been killed and over a million made homeless.Burma has been under the military rule since 1962. The military regime was widely criticised for suppressing pro-democracy parties such as the National League for Democracy (NLD) which led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, a Noble Peace Prize leaurate, who has been under house arrest for the more 12 of past 18 years. Thousands of peaceful protesters, many monks, were detained and at least 31 people were killed last september when the junta cracked down on the "Saffron Revolt", a series of peaceful protests led by Buddhists monks and democracy advocates.

General Bo Mya

The legendary Karen leader Bo Mya died on Christmas Eve 2006. Amid the mist-covered mountains in which he spent half a century fighting, Burma's premier rebel leader laid to rest by his brothers in arms on the 14th March 2007. As his coffin was placed in a concrete tomb in Mu Aye Pu in Karen territory yesterday, a bugler sounded the Last Post before an explosive blast echoed across the valley, followed by a ragged volley of M16 fire from his guard of honour and the crying of a small child.The Karen struggle on in the jungle, their desperate plea for some form of international intervention ignored by a world caught up with bigger crises and more pressing issues. But how long can they hold out in the face of a relentless enemy who seems to relish the crimes they can perpetuate while keeping Burma off the world's news pages. ENDGAME IN BURMA. At the beginning of 2006 a made a solidarity trip into Burma with Karen rebels. I visited the training camp, Pu Bo Mya Plaw, where Bo Mya is buried, for their Karen Revolution Day Parade. I wanted to meet the Karen medics of the KNLA and of the Free Burma Rangers. And start the process of integrating myself into the region and specifically Karen culture. As 'internationals' we were motivated to 'free the oppressed, end genocide, establish democracy and defend liberty' and risked life, limb and our livelihoods too do so; in our many conflicts. I was minded to make this freedom struggle my next one but one man alone can't make that much difference to the battle. So I have tried to assist the Karen in social and a humanitarian fashion; as I mostly did in Afghanistan.What price freedom?Every year on the 31st January the Karen people, a minority nation of hill-tribes in Burma, celebrate Karen Revolution Day. The Karen have been fighting the world's longest civil war- 58 years - during WWII the Karen guerrilas were one of britain's staunchest allies. They were promised autonomy but the promise was never honoured by the UK Government. The Karen, the largest of Burma's many minority peoples, have been waging an increasingly desperate struggle for self-determination against the Burmese government since 1949. The principle demands of Burma's ethnic peoples are to gain genuine autonomy for their home lands and to achieve a significant say in the key affairs of the country as a whole. Prospects for a democratic properous and peaceful Burma are slight without a just and amicable settlement of the country's ethnic conflicts. Saw Hay, 26, is a Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) sergeant from battalion 202, Brigade 7. He joined the Karen army in 1996, after he completed his studies. Saw Hay says he joined the army because when he as a child he saw Burmese soldiers persecute villagers. Saw Hay said he and two friends were chased and shot at by Burmese troops and his two friends were killed. Saw Hay says he was too young to take action against them, but never forgot. He says his willingness to fight is because his Karen people need to have the right to live and travel without fear. When he fled the soldiers he felt great fear trying to survive in the jungle alone. I had never been here before.I did not know the way to go. I was scared.” Saw Hay was lost in the jungle without anything to eat. He survived by eating tree leaves. After wandering for four days he met a Karen soldier and was given water and rice. Saw Hay’s says the experience taught him to never give up no matter how difficult it is. He says he has many comrades like him who work together with the same objective to dedicate their lives for their people’s liberation. “I would like us to gain freedom as soon as possible. The Karen people live in fear, work in fear and travel in fear. So many Karen people have been killed, persecuted and raped without reason. Thousands of our soldiers have sacrificed their lives for our revolution, we mustn’t give up now.”Judging by events in the last nine months since I returned from the KNLA base, escalating military operations will only increase human rights abuses and the displacement of Karen villagers, many of whom seek refuge in Thailand. The survival of the Karen insurgency now the rainy season has ended seems threatened. Only UN or Alliance intervention can change the sistuation which is becoming more untenuable each day. We internationals are not in a position to affect change this time; other than in small numbers and few occassions provide advice, inspiration and strategy.The Karen themselves are split about the way forward. Continue to fight for survival or try to negotiate a durable peace with terms. The son of the legendary Karen resistance leader Bo Mya; Lt-Col Ner Dah Mya, CO of the KNLA 7th Brigade, and a Baptist Pastor have attempted to seek a truce and peace negotiations with the junta but recently cancelled the 'gentleman's ceasefire' established in 2004 and insisted on fresh negotiations while going on major offensive. Sustained operations through the rainy season are rare. We are entering the endgame in Burma if the Karen do not hold out this year; it may be all over by the next Karen Revolution Day; which is the 31 January 2007! It may already be too late for outside help.(Ilustrated in the photos the 101 batalion of the KNLA 7th brigage.)The Karen Revolution is more than just a struggle for survival against national oppression, subjugation, exploitation and domination of the Karen people by the Burmese rulers. It has the aim of a genuine Federal Union comprised of all the states of the nationalities on the basis of equality and self-determination. In our march towards our objectives we shall uphold the four principles laid down by our beloved leader, the late Saw Ba U Gyi, which are:•For us surrender is out of the question.•The recognition of the Karen State must be completed.•We shall retain our arms.•We shall decide our own political destiny. We strongly believe in the Charter of the United Nations, its Declarations on Human Rights, the principle of Self-Determination and the Democratic Rights of Peoples - all causes for which we are fighting. The fighting may be long, hard, and cruel, but we are prepared for all eventualities. To die fighting is better than to live as a slave. But we firmly believe that we shall survive and be victorious, for our cause is just and righteous, and surely any tyranny so despised as the Burmese regime must one day fall.