For last few weeks, the monks from Buddhist monastries have taken charge of leading opposition to the communist military regime.
Of course, while China is silently active in the energy-and-buddhism' diplomacy there, our folks are busy cementing "Aman Setu" with Pakistan, filing 'Ram who?' affidavits in court, or exporting thorium-sand of Kerala to foreign masters.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->YANGON, Myanmar - As many as 100,000 protesters led by a phalanx of barefoot monks marched Monday in the most powerful show of strength yet from a movement that has grown in a week from faltering demonstrations to one rivaling the failed 1988 pro-democracy uprising.
Hours after the protest ended peacefully, Myanmar's military government broadcast an ominous warning, telling senior Buddhist clerics that unless they restrained their juniors, the government would take action on its own against those it said were instigated by the regime's domestic and foreign enemies.
Marching for more than five hours and over at least 12 miles, a last hard-core group of more than 1,000 maroon-robed Buddhist monks and 400 sympathizers finished by walking up to an intersection where police blocked access to the street where democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is under house arrest.
Making no effort to push past, the marchers chanted a Buddhist prayer with the words "May there be peace," and then dispersed. About 500 onlookers cheered the act of defiance, as 100 riot police with helmets and shield stared stonily ahead.
Some participants said there were several hundred thousand marchers in their ranks, but an international aid agency official with employees monitoring the crowd estimated said the size was well over 50,000 and approaching 100,000.
It was the latest in a series of protests that began Aug. 19 as a movement against economic hardship in the Southeast Asian country after the government sharply raised fuel prices. But arrests and intimidation kept demonstrations small and scattered until the monks joined and managed to bring people into the streets in numbers not seen since 1988.
The usually iron-fisted junta has so far kept minimal security at the latest wave of protests, and diplomats and analysts said Myanmar's military rulers were showing the unexpected restraint because of <b>pressure from the country's key trading partner and diplomatic ally, China.</b> The government is also aware that any abuse of the monks could rouse widespread anger in this devout, predominantly Buddhist nation.
A Southeast Asian diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity as a matter of protocol, said the <b>regime is under pressure from China to avoid a crackdown just as its larger neighbor has pressured it to speed up other democratic changes.
"Everyone knows that China is the major supporter of the junta so if government takes any action it will affect the image of China," the diplomat told The Associated Press.
China, which is counting on Myanmar's vast oil and gas reserves to help fuel its booming economy</b>, earlier this year blocked a U.N. Security Council criticizing Myanmar's rights record, saying it was not the right forum.
But at the same time, it has employed quiet diplomacy and subtle public pressure on the regime, urging it to move toward inclusive democracy.
"China is very eager to have a peaceful Burma in order to complete roads and railroads, to develop mines and finish assimilating the country under its economic control," said Josef Silverstein, a political scientist and author of several books on Myanmar.
The movement seemed to gain momentum Saturday, when more than 500 monks and sympathizers went past barricades to walk to the house where Suu Kyi is under house arrest. She greeted them from her gate in her first public appearance in more than four years. Access to her home was barred Sunday and Monday.
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070924/ap_on_re_as/myanmar_72
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Just a few weeks back, China passed an order making it illegal for 'Buddha to be reincarnated anywhere outside of China (which includes Tibet) or without the permission of the Chinese Govt'. This came in wake of Dalai Lama indicating that the next Lama would probably be reborn as an Indian or an Indo-Tibetean in Himachal, Uttaranchal, Sikkim etc.
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In the last session of parliament, there was an interesting piece of information was sought by an MP to Culture Ministry . The MP asked that there was some rumor that a snow-frozen mummy of an ancient Baudhha monk, in a samadhi posture, had been discovered in a village of Laddakh. Is that true and if so, is ASI being engaged? Ms Ambika Soni replied that the news was true, the mummy was discovered a few years back. ASI has no role in it, and is not studying it. The body of Lama/monk is left as it is with the villagers.
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<b>MODS:</b> Can we please correct the spelling in the subject - my<b>a</b>nmar... will make it easier to search.
Of course, while China is silently active in the energy-and-buddhism' diplomacy there, our folks are busy cementing "Aman Setu" with Pakistan, filing 'Ram who?' affidavits in court, or exporting thorium-sand of Kerala to foreign masters.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->YANGON, Myanmar - As many as 100,000 protesters led by a phalanx of barefoot monks marched Monday in the most powerful show of strength yet from a movement that has grown in a week from faltering demonstrations to one rivaling the failed 1988 pro-democracy uprising.
Hours after the protest ended peacefully, Myanmar's military government broadcast an ominous warning, telling senior Buddhist clerics that unless they restrained their juniors, the government would take action on its own against those it said were instigated by the regime's domestic and foreign enemies.
Marching for more than five hours and over at least 12 miles, a last hard-core group of more than 1,000 maroon-robed Buddhist monks and 400 sympathizers finished by walking up to an intersection where police blocked access to the street where democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is under house arrest.
Making no effort to push past, the marchers chanted a Buddhist prayer with the words "May there be peace," and then dispersed. About 500 onlookers cheered the act of defiance, as 100 riot police with helmets and shield stared stonily ahead.
Some participants said there were several hundred thousand marchers in their ranks, but an international aid agency official with employees monitoring the crowd estimated said the size was well over 50,000 and approaching 100,000.
It was the latest in a series of protests that began Aug. 19 as a movement against economic hardship in the Southeast Asian country after the government sharply raised fuel prices. But arrests and intimidation kept demonstrations small and scattered until the monks joined and managed to bring people into the streets in numbers not seen since 1988.
The usually iron-fisted junta has so far kept minimal security at the latest wave of protests, and diplomats and analysts said Myanmar's military rulers were showing the unexpected restraint because of <b>pressure from the country's key trading partner and diplomatic ally, China.</b> The government is also aware that any abuse of the monks could rouse widespread anger in this devout, predominantly Buddhist nation.
A Southeast Asian diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity as a matter of protocol, said the <b>regime is under pressure from China to avoid a crackdown just as its larger neighbor has pressured it to speed up other democratic changes.
"Everyone knows that China is the major supporter of the junta so if government takes any action it will affect the image of China," the diplomat told The Associated Press.
China, which is counting on Myanmar's vast oil and gas reserves to help fuel its booming economy</b>, earlier this year blocked a U.N. Security Council criticizing Myanmar's rights record, saying it was not the right forum.
But at the same time, it has employed quiet diplomacy and subtle public pressure on the regime, urging it to move toward inclusive democracy.
"China is very eager to have a peaceful Burma in order to complete roads and railroads, to develop mines and finish assimilating the country under its economic control," said Josef Silverstein, a political scientist and author of several books on Myanmar.
The movement seemed to gain momentum Saturday, when more than 500 monks and sympathizers went past barricades to walk to the house where Suu Kyi is under house arrest. She greeted them from her gate in her first public appearance in more than four years. Access to her home was barred Sunday and Monday.
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070924/ap_on_re_as/myanmar_72
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
=====
Just a few weeks back, China passed an order making it illegal for 'Buddha to be reincarnated anywhere outside of China (which includes Tibet) or without the permission of the Chinese Govt'. This came in wake of Dalai Lama indicating that the next Lama would probably be reborn as an Indian or an Indo-Tibetean in Himachal, Uttaranchal, Sikkim etc.
=====
In the last session of parliament, there was an interesting piece of information was sought by an MP to Culture Ministry . The MP asked that there was some rumor that a snow-frozen mummy of an ancient Baudhha monk, in a samadhi posture, had been discovered in a village of Laddakh. Is that true and if so, is ASI being engaged? Ms Ambika Soni replied that the news was true, the mummy was discovered a few years back. ASI has no role in it, and is not studying it. The body of Lama/monk is left as it is with the villagers.
=====
<b>MODS:</b> Can we please correct the spelling in the subject - my<b>a</b>nmar... will make it easier to search.