October 4, 2007

            On behalf of all monks and people of Myanmar (Burma), we, All Burma Monks Alliance, appeal to the United Nations Security Council to intervene to end the violence and oppression of the military regime in Burma.

            The United Nations Security Council, as well as the whole of the international community, is witness to how the Burmese Military government has arrested, beaten, and killed lay-people and monks for participating in peaceful demonstrations calling for national reconciliation and a solution to the current economic and political crisis.

          The military regime has sent monks to prisons and hard labor camps throughout Burma, forcibly disrobing them.  Many monks have also been brutally killed by regime soldiers.  Moreover, the regime troops are continuing their nighttime raids of monasteries and Buddhist teaching centers, arresting and killing monks. They have laid siege to the pagodas and monasteries as if they were enemy military camps.  It is very clear that the military regime has defied the demands of Burma’s monks, brutally cracking down on the recent peaceful demonstrations and arresting thousands of monks, just to keep their hold on power.

            The regime’s attacks on monasteries have caused Burma’s monks to live in a state of alarm, in fear for their lives.  We cannot share the Buddha’s teachings or continue to practice as monks under these conditions. 

            We believe that the United Nations Security Council sympathizes with the situation of the Burmese people and the clergy.  Thus, we earnestly request the Security Council’s intervention in Burma to stop the military regime’s violence.

Ashin Gambiya,

Member of leading committee

All Burma Monks Alliance