Revellers are doused in water during Thingyan in Taunggyi in 2005. PHOTO/ IAN KERR/ WIKICOMMONS
Myanmar authorities will be on alert for terror plots from internal and external organisations over the Thingyan holiday period, police have said.
The security threat level will remain at ‘yellow’ as police believe there are 200 members of the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) in the country and more trying to cross the border from Bangladesh, the Democratic Voice of Burma reported.
“We have received information that 300 RSO members who trained in India are trying to get into our country. It is no secret. Everybody knows,” Deputy Regional Police Chief Zaw Khin Aung was quoted as saying, adding that the Indian army had arrested 100.
Controversy surrounds RSO, with many experts believing it barely exists but is being used to justify prejudice against Myanmar’s Muslim minority, especially the stateless Rohingya from whom it takes its name.
The police chief said authorities had deployed extra measures in border areas and would be on alert during Thingyan, or water festival, celebrations starting April 13. In 2010, three bomb blasts attributed to anti-government protester Yangon killed 8 people in Yangon.
“We cannot say there would never be a terrorist act inside the country. Some agree on the peace process. Some don’t,” he said, referring to ceasefire deal reached between the government and 16 armed groups on March 31.
“For example, there are destructive elements in the Karen National Union. Similarly, there is a threat from Laogai [or Laukkai, in the Kokang Special Region]. They have been pressured militarily. They lost many of their people, so they may try do divert attention.”
The Myanmar Times reported last week that the chief of Mandalay district police said checkpoints would be installed in Mandalay to boost security.
