I mentioned in the previous post that thousands of Karen in Thailand expecting to be resettled in the US have had their cases rejected or put on hold due to the 'material support clause' of the Patriot Act. The KNU, or sub-groups of the KNU have been identified as groups which may be engaging in 'terrorist activity'. Consequently, anyone deemed to have provided support are rendered inadmissable for migration or resettlement in the US. The KNU is the oldest resistance group in Burma, and have a cease-fire agreement with the junta. They have adhered to the tenants of the cease-fire even to their own detriment, as the SPDC doesn't give a flying flip about any agreements they've made with anyone. The following is a statement from the KNU regarding the recent SPDC attacks against the Karen people. There's no clause against providing moral support, is there?
OFFICE OF THE SUPREME HEADQUARTERS
KAREN NATIONAL UNION
KAWTHOOLEI
In the base areas of the KNU, the SPDC troops have been increasing military activities, sending in more supplies and heavy weapons than necessary and repairing communication lines more than ever.
Especially, starting from February 2006, the SPDC has been increasing military activities in Toungoo and Nyaunglaybin Districts. Its troops have been shelling Karen villages with heavy weapons, banning the population from travel and food buying trips, preventing the people from going to their work places, starting forest fires to burn down the people'’s betel nut, cardamom, coffee plantations and homes, torturing and executing Karen villagers on accusation of having communication with the KNU, forcing the villagers including women to work for them and planting more landmines in the villages. For that reason, thousands of Karen people in Toungoo and Nyaunglaybin Districts have to flee from their homes and villages.
The SPDC has been daily shouting, calling for non-disintegration of unity of the indigenous nationalities [national unity] and non-disintegration of the Union. It should properly practice as it has been preaching. If the SPDC is shouting unity of the indigenous nationalities just for the sake of shouting and continues to practice the policy of military violence and annihilation, it will never be able to establish unity of the indigenous nationalities.
At the present, Burma is in a frightening political, economic and social crisis and the entire people made up of the indigenous nationalities are deep in the sea of misery. At a time when it is urgently necessary to resolve problems of the country justly by political means, the stepping up of military attacks and violence against the KNU and the Karen people in such a way is cause for serious concern and a matter of gravity.
Since the Karen people or any other indigenous nationality have the right to self-defense, KNU and the Karen people must take measures for self-defense, as necessary. However, as true events in history have shown that problems cannot be resolved by means of annihilation war, we reaffirm our earnest call upon the SPDC to cease its current military offensives immediately and resolve the problems justly by political means.