Insurgents operating from Bangladesh, Myanmar
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Gas pipeline to India will destroy Arakan ancient history
Arakan political activists and Bangladeshi students, workers and farmers holding black banners staged a noisy demonstration in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on 19 January to protest against the proposed gas pipeline from Arakan State in western Burma through Bangladesh to India.
DVB: 19 Jan 2005
Arakan political activists and Bangladeshi students, workers and farmers holding black banners staged a noisy demonstration in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on 19 January to protest against the proposed gas pipeline from Arakan State in western Burma through Bangladesh to India.
The chairman of All Arakan Student Youth Congress (AASYC) Ko Kyaw Han who organised the protest told DVB that the project is to be led by Burma’s military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), an illegal government which has been persecuting and oppressing pro-democracy activists inside Burma and he insisted that the Bangladeshi government should have no business deals with the junta.
U Sit Naing, an Arakan history expert, pointing out all significant places, said that the proposed pipeline route, from north of Arakan State capital Sittwe (Akyab) to Indian Mizoram State, crosses many ancient historic towns and that the construction of the pipeline could destroy all these important historic sites.
An Indian ethnic nationality expert, Ul Uttamoya told DVB that the gas pipeline will not only damage wildlife habitats and the environment, it will also destroy the stability of ethnic nationals as many soldiers will be stationed along it.