New Delhi (Mizzima) - Two Burmese women?s organizations in the Indo-Burmese border town of Moreh were forced to cancel a planned protest rally to be held on Friday after authorities pressured the officer who had issued permission for the rally to cancel the authorization.

The Kuki Women?s Human Rights Organisation (KWHRO) and the Women?s League of Burma (WLB) sought permission from the Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) of Tengnoupal Subdivision of Moreh in India?s northeastern state of Manipur, bordering Burma, to hold a protest rally demanding the release of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on her 64th birthday on June 19.

Though the ADC gave permission, the women?s leaders said they were later persuaded by the ADC to cancel the plan.

?We already received permission on June 16. But this morning we were requested to cancel the plan,? Ngangai Haokip, a presidium board member of WLB told Mizzima.

She said the reasons for the request to cancel the plan were not officially declared, though the ADC had been pressured by his superiors to rescind the permission.

?The ADC was also pressured to ensure that we publish the cancellation of the program in the newspaper,? Ngangai added.

Earlier, the KWHRO, an ethnic Kuki women?s group working to promote the rights of women in Burma, and WLB, an umbrella Burmese women?s organization, planned to march through Moreh in protest against the continued detention of Burmese Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and the current trial against her.

The program was planned as part of the global action for commemoration of the detained Burmese pro-democracy leader?s 64th birthday, on June 19. On Friday, Burmese activists and supporters across the world are set to hold prayer meetings, protest rallies, solidarity concerts and speeches in honor and solidarity with the Burmese democracy icon.

But Ngangai said the program in Moreh had been rescheduled to a simple and small cake-cutting ceremony to mark the occasion

Pressure from the ADC on the women?s groups to cancel their program came after the Imphal-based online Hueiyen News Service published a critical article on June 17 questioning the authority of the ADC to grant permission to protest to foreign organizations.

The article, entitled ?How can an ADC permit foreigners to hold protest rally at Moreh??, points out that allowing Burmese activists to protest in Moreh could provoke Burma?s military junta and eventually jeopardize diplomatic ties between India and Burma.

?With Moreh, being a town bordering Myanmar [Burma], any activity such as an open protest rally held there aimed at criticizing the ruling junta in Myanmar [Burma] is bound to certainly provoke the junta,? the article argued.

While it is still unknown who pressured the ADC to alter the original ruling, Ngangai speculated, ?Now the ADC is worrying for his life and position after having originally given permission.?

Meanwhile, observers in Moreh conjectured pressure by Manipuri militants on the behest of the Burmese military could be behind the reversal of fortunes, as several Manipuri armed groups, including the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), reportedly benefit from close relationships with the Burmese military, even maintaining bases on Burmese soil.

New Delhi (Mizzima News) -In a renewed crackdown on Burmese migrants, Mizoram authorities in India?s northeastern region have arrested over 100 Burmese nationals and ordered them to leave the state within 15 days.

Mizoram police as of Saturday began to crack down on Burmese nationals and arrested more than 100. They were produced in court in Aizawl, capital of the state, where they were made to pay a fine of Rupees 500 each and ordered to leave the state within 15 days.

?They arrested us and held us for a night in the police lock-up. The court told us that it would give 15 days to us to leave the country. It also warned us that if we are seen again we will be arrested and put in jail,? a Burmese weaver, who was also among the arrested, told Mizzima on Thursday.

The weaver said police raided their house and arrested all 12 Burmese weavers.

Explaining the court order he said they had to pay a fine of Rupees 500 each. Those who could not pay the fine were deported to the Burma border forthwith.

On Sunday, Mizoram authorities deported 15 Burmese to the Indo-Burma border for they could not pay the fine imposed by the court. However, the Burmese weaver and others were bailed out by their employers, who paid the fine for them.

?Yes, it is true that we have deported the Burmese. But there were only 15 of them. We deported them on Sunday. I cannot recall how many we have deported in the past,? Rozara, a police officer at the Aizawl police station, told Mizzima.

He said they had acted on the order of the court, which is also going through the legal steps following an order from the state government. He clarified that they had not targeted any particular section of the Burmese community.

According to the Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO) office in Aizawl, the police have mainly targeted Burmese nationals trading in alcohol and drugs.

?As far as my understanding goes, the police have arrested mainly those who sell alcohol and drugs. The state government must have pressurized the police to do so,? Tehra, in-charge of the CHRO office in Aizawl, said.

But unlike Tehra?s view of the situation Burmese living in Aizawl believe that the police are making random arrests as several from the Burmese weaving community were also arrested along with others.

A Burmese weaver, Phoeni said ?Now the weavers are scared. It is not safe for them anymore,? he added.

According to him, there are an estimated 2,500 Burmese weavers working in various weaving houses in Aizawl town. Mizoram, which is contiguous to Chin state in western Burma, hosts more than 60,000 Burmese nationals.

This is not the first time that Burmese have been deported. In 2003, after a Burmese raped a minor girl, locals forcibly evicted several Burmese nationals from the state.

Sources said the influential Young Mizo Association (YMA), a youth organization in Mizoram, has been compiling a list of Burmese living in the state. However, the purpose of collecting the list of names is still not clear.

Local newspapers have highlighted the increasing number of Burmese nationals year after year and linked the increasing crime rate to the influx.

Most Burmese nationals find jobs in weaving, as gold-smiths, in construction sites, work as housemaids, farm hands and do other manual labour.

Mae Sot (Mizzima) ? Burma?s largest active ethnic rebel group has been forced to abandon its stronghold on the Burmese border with Thailand after weeks of fierce fighting with government troops and rival Karen guerrillas.

The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), will now resort to guerrilla tactics to fight the Burmese Army rather than waste lives trying to defend territorial bases in eastern Burma, KNLA Commander Jonny told reporters on Thursday.

"The withdrawal from our 7th Division base does not mean we are defeated. It is a tactical redeployment. We also do not want to kill our fellow Karens in this battle," he said.

But many analysts believe this may be the beginning of the end for the KNLA, which has been fighting for self-determination from the Burmese government for sixty years.

Nonetheless, KNU and KNLA leaders insist that the struggle is far from over. ?We will fight to the bitter end,? David Thackerbaw, a KNU spokesperson, told Mizzima. ?We have no option but to continue fighting. We must hold onto every strip of land."

?We know what is at stake. The Burmese Army will continue to commit human rights abuses, seize our land and control our natural resources if we don?t resist them,? he added.

In the past few weeks thousands of ethnic Karen villagers have been forced to flee across the border into Thailand as the Burmese Army stepped up its assault on the Karen rebels.

Fierce fighting and constant mortar fire close to the Thai border by the Burmese Army has thus far forced more than four thousand ethnic Karen villagers to flee for their safety, according to aid workers in the area.

More than two weeks ago the Burmese Army and a pro-government militia ? the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) ? launched a major attack along part of the border with Thailand in a last ditch effort to finally destroy the KNLA.

In the past few days the Burmese Army has increased its offensive against the KNU?s armed wing, targeting the KNLA's strongest outfit, the 7th Brigade.

For several weeks the 7th Brigade was able to hold their own against the all-out joint assault, though the strategic relationship appears now to have altered. ?If we cannot stand our ground, we will move away,? Thackerbaw emphasized. ?We will not let our troops die unnecessarily.?

More than 300 fresh DKBA were brought up from Pa?an, capital of Karen State, over the weekend, reinforcing the already 600-strong force fighting alongside the Burmese Army, according to Karen sources in Burma.

?They intend to use a pincer maneuver to dislodge the KNLA,? a Thai military intelligence officer told Mizzima on condition of anonymity. ?There are six Burmese Army battalions involved, with the two thousand Burmese troops split equally at the northern and southern ends of the 7th Brigade?s territory.?

?But it?s the 900-strong DKBA that will bear the brunt of the fighting as they lead the attack, with logistical support from the Burmese Army on either side,? he added.

The 7th Brigade is the KNLA's largest and best trained force. More critically it controls a long and strategically important stretch of land between the KNLA?s northern and southern forces.

Now that they are retreating the other two Karen strongholds are isolated and susceptible to being easily surrounded, according to military analysts in the region.

The KNU has been fighting for independence in the hills of eastern Burma and the world's longest running insurgency. They are one of a handful of rebel militias not to have signed a ceasefire agreement with the junta.

?There is no doubt that the junta, with the help of the DKBA, are going all-out to wrest control of the area along the border from the KNU,? Burmese academic and military specialist Win Min told Mizzima.

The renewed military campaign against the KNLA has been prompted by the regime?s planned elections next year and the proposed creation of a national border police force ? comprised of disarmed ethnic rebel armies having reached ceasefire agreements with the regime.

However, thus far most ethnic groups have rejected the junta?s plans, though the DKBA has agreed in principle to become a border police force.

In the area along the Thai border where the KNLA is active, the Burmese Army has closed some 30 of its 100 military camps in the last few months, in anticipation of the DKBA taking control of the area, according to the Free Burma Rangers, who operate inside the country.

?They want to eliminate the KNU now because we have called on all Karen to boycott the elections,? speculated Thackerbaw. ?The last thing they want is for other ethnic groups to follow our lead.?

Meanwhile, across the border in Burma many villagers are bracing themselves for further fighting and shelling, with the next few days likely to see the Burmese military substantially step up their operations, said a senior Thai military officer.

As the fighting continues more Karen refugees are certain to seek safety across the border in Thailand. So far refugees have fled from seven villages in the war zone, but there are more than 40 villages affected by the current fighting.

?If the fighting continues, at least 8,000 more villagers will have to escape across the border or die at the hands of the soldiers,? Zipporah Sein, General Secretary of the KNU, told Mizzima.

"Too much exercise," said Capt Maung Kyit Aye, laughing quietly and nodding.

When I asked him why he was so much thinner than two years ago when we had first met, he said, ?I'm getting old too."

Back then, he still had the occasional "luxury" of spending time with his family in Thailand. Now he spends most of his time on the Burmese side of the river in Karen State with his troops, fighting to hold back the increasing attacks by Burmese soldiers and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army against KNLA Battalion 21 of Brigade 7.

?I don?t know exactly when,? he said. ?But I will have to go back to the frontline soon.?

It was only a few days after we talked that the Burmese military opened a fierce offensive against the area controlled by Brigade 7. Battalion 21 headquarters was eventually lost, because it was defended only by a small number of KNLA soldiers and a few troops from the Arakan Liberation Army.

When I left Kyit Aye, he was studying a piece of paper filled with hundreds of radio frequencies which are alternated daily to avoid interception by the DKBA.

Strolling around the headquarters, I ran into an elderly Karen woman who had served as a midwife for a young Karen woman in child birth whom I had photographed two years ago.

The woman and her husband and their 2-year-old son were still alive, but I was told that if I visited them at their home, only a half hour boat ride from where we stood, I would need a heavy escort because the area was experiencing heavy mortar fire from enemy troops.

Asked about the deteriorating tactical situation, the Karen I spoke with answered proudly that the KNLA was still strong and capable of holding the Burmese in check.

?The Karen will never lose, because we will never give up the fight,? Kyit Aye said with a bright smile. ?If not this generation, the next generation will continue the fight until we have our freedom.?

After enjoying a special supper of freshly killed chicken, I rested on a wood floor, trying to get some sleep. As I closed my eyes, I heard a sound of a guitar and someone singing a slow ballad. I got up and followed the sound of a soft, cracking voice.

The musician was a young soldier in his early 20s, playing a battered acoustic guitar, with an M-16 rifle leaning against a post behind him. He smiled as I complimented him on his singing and said, ?Being a good soldier is better than being a good singer?.

Walking back to the shack in pitch-black darkness, I heard him quietly start the song again.

irrawaddy