Hindustan Times wrote about Aung San Suu Kyi winning from last by-election will bring hope to India-Myanmar’s relation on their page dated April 5, 2012. It said about the Sittwe port with its Kaladan Project and also the reopening of Stilwell road from the WW2. “Stilwell Road isn’t just a piece of near-forgotten history; it is a relentless journey towards economic cooperation between Northeast India and Southeast Asia. We hope democratisation will enable Yangon to have a more rational view on liberalisation and economics will have precedence over narrow geo-political sectarianism,” said Assam industries minister Pradyut Bordoloi. The Kaladan River is navigable up to a point near the Mizoram-Myanmar border. Continue reading
Narinjara reported on April 5, 2012 about The Rakhine Women’s Union, or RWU, based in Bangladesh, which staged a demonstration against the Shwe Gas Project in front of the Chinese embassy in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, on Tuesday, calling on the Chinese government to stop the project immediately, said a spokesperson from the RWU. Ma Saw Thiri Raymon, the group’s spokesperson, said that around 20 members of RWU gathered in front of the Chinese embassy in Dhaka at 11:30 am to stage the demonstration against the Shwe Gas Project.
DVB Norway reported on their website dated April 21, 2012 about the construction of a gas pipeline connecting western Burma’s Arakan state and southern China’s Yunnan province has disrupted a local river and destroyed farmland. A local resident in Namtu’s Saigao village in northern Shan state said a Chinese company that is building the pipeline is rerouting the Namtu River. Continue reading
Myanmartime wrote in their 2nd week news that the Union Government agreed to take measures to reduce the environmental and social impact of an India-backed transport project on the Kaladan River. It has also agreed to ramp up information dissemination programs concerning the US$120 Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport project, which is being implemented in Chin and Rakhine states. The declaration come after some press reports raised concerns about the impact of the project and questioned whether residents in the project area would really benefit. Myanmar Port Authority managing director U Cho Than Maung said his organisation was ready to cooperate with NGOs that are working for the sake of residents in the project area. “We can’t know or hear all voices from the local residents, but we will cooperate with local NGOs and work together. We are thankful that NGOs help locals to be heard. We only want to do what is beneficial for the country,” he said. “We will work to help people to understand the project and reduce their worries. We will also let them know the benefits of the project.” Continue reading
Five officials from a Burmese company were injured when Indian workers attacked their office at a work site of the Shwe Gas Project in Kyuakpru in western Burma’s Arakan State, like it was reported by Naranjira dated March 1, 2012. A local contractor working with the Burmese company said its name is “Parami” and it supplies water to the work stations of the gas pipeline construction in Kyaukpru Township. They said five officials from the company were injured when the Indian workers attacked their office with rods and brickbats and assaulted them. Due to the hot weather in the area, the water levels in the spring have dropped, and the company has only been able to supply 8,000 gallons of water to the station per day. This has caused an insufficiency of water at the station, and the angry workers attacked the office in retaliation. Continue reading
My DigitalFC wrote on February 1, 2012 about The Indian National security advisor ShivshankarMenon chaired a meeting in PMO last fortnight with half a dozen secretaries to fine-tune the proposed agreement in New Delhi, especially major projects that will take off during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Myanmar in May this year. The discussion included the border trade post at Rhi – Zawkhather. India will open border ‘haats’ along the Myanmar border. These commercial hubs would be on the lines of haats opened on Indo-Bangladesh border. During Singh’s visit, both India and Myanmar will firm up the move to set up Kaladan multi-modal transit and transportation project for road connectivity between two nations by extending national highway 54 on Indian side to Myanmar border. PMO has apparently order both roads minister Kamal Nath and external affairs minister SM Krishna to ‘expedite the project’ to ensure seamless movement of goods between two countries Continue reading
On Tuesday, February 7,2012,Narinjara News reported the Shwe Gas Campaign that was launched by a group of Arakanese youths in their traditional tug-of-war or “Rahta-Swe-Bwe” held in Sittwe in western Burma’s Arakan State was forcibly stopped by the police, said a leader of the campaign. Over 100 local youths who were organized by a local campaign group known as the Ray of Arakan or “RakkhaAhluntan” were said to have participated in competitions of their traditional tug-of war held from 3 to 7 February, between the urban wards in Sittwe wearing the t-shirts that read “Stop the Shwe Gas Project” and “Give 24-hour Electricity in Arakan”. The “RathaSweBwe” is one of the most popular traditional games in Arakan State and they launched the campaign with the game to raise wider awareness among their own Arakanese people who are being deprived of their rights in their own region. Continue reading
The Indian Awaaz wrote on Wednesday, January 24, 2012 that cooperation in security matter is top most important for India as many insurgent groups active in north-eastern part of the country take shelter in Myanmar. With the civilian government in place in Myanmar, India expects more cooperation with that country. The two sides agreed to maintain closer interaction between the nodal points and respective commanding officers of border guarding forces of the two countries for sharing real time intelligence. Both sides expressed satisfaction at the meetings of the Border Liaison Offices (BLOs) at DC and SP levels at Moreh-Tamu and Zowakhatar-Rhi and agreed to establish a new BLO at Ukhrul (India)-Somra (Myanmar). The Indian leader agreed to provide the requisite communication facilities for the additional BLO and Commanding officers level interactions at the border. In order to trace the recipients of the arms smuggling in India, the leader of Indian delegation requested Myanmar to share interrogation reports of arms smugglers arrested by Myanmar security forces. The leader of the Myanmar delegation agreed to share these reports with India. Continue reading
On Tuesday, January 17, 2012 Mizzima News reported that people in two townships in Arakan State are protesting, calling for the Burmese government to supply more gas to the region as a fuel to provide more electricity to the state which lacks sufficient electrical power. Activists delivered an open letter to the Arakan state minister on Monday with the demand, said a statement by the Shwe Gas Movement, an activist group based in Thailand. “The demand for 24-hour electricity before any export [of gas] shows that the Arakan people are not going to be bought off so cheaply.” Burma does not have an enforceable democratic legal structure to ensure revenue transparency and contract accountability or to ensure that its citizens receive tangible benefits from foreign investments in the extractive sector.“At the moment there is only one way to ensure local people see real benefits and that is to allocate 100 per cent of the Shwe gas towards meeting domestic energy needs.” Continue reading
Narinjara and BNI Online reported on December 12, 2011 that the Arakan Liberation Army, or ALA, has recently clashed with a Burmese army unit in a confrontation on the frontlines in Paletwa Township in southern Chin State in Burma, said a spokesperson for the ALA. The ALA is the armed wing of the Arakan Liberation Party that is based in the triangle border area of Burma, Bangladesh, and India. The recent clash was the latest and seventh event between the ALA and the Burmese army in 2011, and over ten soldiers, including officers, have been killed, with several others injured in the Burmese army. Only one soldier from the ALA was killed in the clashes, and a number of soldiers were injured. However, no independent confirmation of casualties in the Burmese army is yet available. Continue reading
Narinjara dated November 4, 2011 reported that residents in Sittwe, the capital of western Burma’s Arakan State, complaint about the construction of an Indian-owned port that is harming many people, due to the large volume of sands that have blown away from the site, near the Sittwe general hospital. According to the people, dust and sand is being blown away from the construction site of the port and has been greatly troubling patients in the hospital, as well as polluting the environment and air of the town. Undisciplined drivers of heavy vehicles that carry the sand from the beach for landfills in the site have damaged the roads in the town as well. A student from Sittwe University also said the natural beauty of Point Beach, the public recreation place in the town has also been destroyed by the construction. “Now Point Beach is potted, and is not beautiful like before”, said the student. She said the port construction has not only destroyed the natural beauty of the Point beach, but also polluted the whole town with the sands from the beach, but the authorities are turning a blind eye to the work. According to residents, the people who suffer from some respiratory diseases are being badly affected by the pollution caused by the port construction in their town. U Aung Mra Kyaw, an MP of the Arakan State Parliament and the President of the Sittwe Branch of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, said he submitted a note of the problems to the regional government. The port is being constructed by the India’s Essar Company, and is a major component of the ‘Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project’ that was proposed by the Indian government under a framework agreement with the Burmese military regime in 2008 to ease the movement of goods into land locked areas. Continue reading
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