Reuters Commentary hints opposition

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Subject: Reuters Commentary hints opposition behind Myanmar arson 



Commentary hints opposition behind Myanmar arson
05:00 a.m. Apr 13, 1999 Eastern
YANGON, April 13 (Reuters) - A commentary in state-owned newspapers
suggested on Tuesday opponents of Myanmar's military government were behind
a suspected arson attack on the country's holiest Buddhist shrine.

Myanmar's official news agency said on Monday a fire broke out at the
weekend in a ceiling of Yangon's Shwedagon Pagoda but was quickly
extinguished. It said arson was suspected.

A commentary in Tuesday's Kyemon and Myanma Alin newspapers said officials
had carried out a thorough investigation.

``It can be speculated as to who is responsible. It is those who have
committed similar things a number of times.

``They attacked the sacred tooth relic of Buddha with a bomb on the evening
of Christmas Day, 1996,'' it said in reference to an attack on a temple
housing a relic loaned by China.

The government blamed the Karen National Union guerrillas, a dissident exile
group the All Burma Students' Democratic Front, and ``above-ground
destructive elements'' for that attack, which killed five people and injured
17.

The latter term is usually used by the authorities to refer to the National
League for Democracy (NLD), Myanmar's main opposition party. All the
opposition groups denied involvement in the 1996 attack.

No member of the NLD was available to comment on the newspaper article and
government officials were not available to say whether the commentary
reflected government opinion.

In the past the government has said commentaries in the state press do not
always reflect official opinion.