New Delhi - In a fresh crack down on the beleaguered opposition, Burmese junta authorities on Tuesday morning arrested two key opposition figures from Arakan State and Irrawaddy division.
Nyi Pu, chairman of Arakan State National League for Democracy and Dr. Tin Min Htut, Member of Parliament from the Panthanaw constituency in Irrawaddy division, were arrested by police from their Rangoon homes, opposition sources said.
The joint-secretary of the Arakan State NLD, Thein Hlaing told Mizzima over telephone that about eight policemen, believed to be from the Special Branch, raided the home of their chairman in Rangoon at about 3 in the morning and took him away.
"This morning, someone who stays with him called me and told me that eight men in plainclothes came in the morning and took him [Nyi Pu] away saying they needed to ask a few questions," Thein Hlaing said.
While arresting Nyi Pu, the police also took away documents relating to the party's affairs and a mobile phone from his residence.
Nyi Pu was arrested from his residence at Rangoon 's Bahan Township , while Dr. Tin Min Htut was arrested from his residence in Bothathawng Township .
While the reason for the arrest of the two leaders is still not known, Thein Hlaing said, it could have a connection with the Arakan state NLD's appeal to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon regarding rejecting the junta's constitution and the May referendum.
In mid-July, a group of MPs elected in the 1990 elections as well as NLD party members wrote an appeal to Ban Ki-moon urging the UN to reject the junta's constitution, and its follow-up May referendum.
Thein Hlaing also said, authorities must have suspected the two for master-minding the recent protests in Taungup town of Arakan state on the 20th anniversary of the historic August 8, 1988 protests, also known as the '8888' uprising.
"Authorities might be suspicious of the two that's why they might have taken them in for interrogation," Thein Hlaing said.
Nyan Win, the NLD spokesperson in Rangoon said, "We still do not understand why Dr. Tin Min Htut was arrested."
Meanwhile, five out of 48 protesters, who marched the streets of Taungup town in Arakan state on the 20th anniversary of the '8888' uprising last week, are still detained at an undisclosed location.
Sources said, secretary of the Arakan NLD Khin Hla and treasurer Min Aung, who were arrested for leading protests in September 2007, have reportedly been sentenced to four and two years in jail respectively.
Similarly, activists Myo Min and Myint Aye of the 'Human Rights Defenders and Promoters' (HRDP), were arrested on August 6 and 8 respectively from their homes in Kyi Myin Dine township in Rangoon .
"It is almost a common thing for members of the NLD to be arrested and released again and again. It is clear that we the NLD are being targeted and are deliberately suppressed," Nyan Win said.
