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Maj-San says "men...not be called t



Subject: Maj-San says "men...not be called terrorists because they had not manifested any conspiracy."

Maj-Gen Sanan reiterated his claim that the men, armed with machine guns
and grenades, should
not be called terrorists because they had not manifested any conspiracy.

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> 
> 2,000 dissidents bear the brunt
> Under tighter control after hostage crisis
> 
> More than 2,000 Burmese students residing in Bangkok under the care of
> the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees will be kept under
> stricter control by Thai authorities following the Burmese embassy
> siege.
> Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasart
> announced that he had instructed the officials to apply tougher
> security measures because Burmese refugees have the potential to spark
> unrest at any time.
> Those categorised as "students" will be separated from all others and
> sent to universities under UNHCR programmes, he said.
> The directive will also apply to 816 others housed at Maneeloy refugee
> centre in Ratchaburi, which allegedly has clandestinely served as a
> military training camp for pro-democracy Burmese students.
> Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai admitted that intelligence and security
> measures of the government had been "loose".
> But the administration maintained that the five Burmese men who raided
> the embassy were "not terrorists but merely radical students in
> pursuit of democracy".
> Maj-Gen Sanan reiterated his claim that the men, armed with machine
> guns and grenades, should not be called terrorists because they had
> not manifested any conspiracy.
> The Burmese had only acted in the interests of democratic rule in
> Burma and did not mean to harm any of the hostages during the siege,
> he said.
> It ended without bloodshed because Thai authorities had applied a
> soft, peaceful approach to the situation, keeping in mind that they
> were just "freedom fighters", Maj-Gen Sanan said.
> "They only asked for a helicopter to take them over to the border.
> They only wanted the world to know that Burma still has no democracy.
> For that reason, the negotiations went on smoothly and the situation
> unfolded peacefully," he said.
> "That's why I choose to call them radical students in pursuit of
> democracy and not terrorists," he added.
> -------------------------------------------