Another key figure in Burma’s 2007 uprising eludes capture.
A key leader of Burma’s 2007 uprising against the military
government and co-founder ofThe
Best Friend has fled
to Thailand after eluding authorities during a year in hiding and a two-week
manhunt, saying the Burmese people “are more desperate than ever before.”
Ashin Issariya, 33, a monk also known as King Zero, arrived in the
Thai border town of Mae Sot at 5 p.m. Oct. 21.
“People are frustrated and feel helpless. They want to escape from
the present situation but have no idea how to get away. They don’t see a way
out,” he said.
“People are more desperate than ever before, especially after the
Saffron Revolution, and there is a palpable anger in the public. It’s a
reaction to what they saw and heard of the junta’s brutal crackdown.”
Military manhunt
Military police had been pursuing him for up to 14 days, after learning where
he had been hiding since the junta cracked down on a popular uprising that
became known as the Saffron Revolution.
“When members of Generation Wave, a new anti-government
underground youth group, were arrested two weeks ago, the junta’s agents…traced
the places I used for hiding. Agents even came to my village,” he said in an
interview. “They would definitely have tortured me.”
Ashin Issariya is one of a few founding members of the All Burma
Monks Alliance, which spearheaded the 2007 uprising, to have evaded arrest. He
declined to give details of his year in hiding or his escape across the Thai
border.
“Before you start doing this kind of work, you have to be prepared
to face extreme consequences, including the loss of your life. Otherwise you
cannot function,” he said. “If people in Burma are united and unanimously
oppose the military dictatorship, this time the people will prevail.”
“They have been starved and choked of all the opportunities which
can improve their lives. We have to liberate ourselves from the military
dictatorship to be relieved from our suffering.”
Dramatic jailbreak
Earlier this month, another Saffron Revolution leader staged an unprecedented
escape from a junta prison camp and fled to safety in India.
Ashin Panna Siri broke out of the Lin Dan prison camp in Burma’s
Chin state on Sept. 15. He too was a close associate of U Gambira, leader of
the All Burma Monks Alliance, and described torture and backbreaking labor in
custody.
U Gambira, 27, has been in custody since Nov. 2007 and is
currently on trial for nine separate criminal offenses, including threatening
government stability.
