Burmese Buddhist Monks Show Documentary to Tibetan Exiles

Burmese Buddhist monks shared their plight with Tibetan exiles in Dharamsala in India's north on Tuesday.

The 18-member Burmese monks' delegation arrived in the hill-town, the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile, on Monday for a three-day visit.

The exiled Burmese monks screened a documentary on their struggle against the ruling Junta in 2007.

[Tenzin Cheoying, Tibetan Activist]:
"We have few Burmese who are visiting Dharamsala and also with them they have brought a very powerful documentary called Burma VJ. This is about the Burmese monks protest in 2007 and how people inside Burma are struggling for freedom and democracy.”

[Pluto, Burmese Delegation Coordinator]:
"The Burmese people and the Tibetan people are in same conditions politically because in Burma we have been under dictatorship rule for more than 60 years and Tibetan people are also under occupation of the Chinese government. There are a lot of human right violations and our struggle for democracy has not been successful.”

A monk-led protest was crushed by Burma's ruling junta in 2007, and at least 10 people, possibly more, were killed.

The military regime is facing unprecedented pressure to move away from decades of army rule that has crippled a once-promising economy.

The junta regime plans to release detained opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, from house arrest in November, probably after a planned general election later this year, the first in Burma since the 1990 polls.

In the 1990 polls, Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won, but the military junta ignored the result.

New Delhi, which has close links to the junta, says the generals should pursue national reconciliation and return to democracy but opposes tough measures like sanctions saying the country should not be isolated.