No.03 - 11/2005
04 November 2005

Human Rights

S.H.A.N. under fire

The Shan group that professes to be the interim government of Burma's Shan State has lambasted the Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N.) for its report, "Shan FM faces the sack," 1 November 2005, as "groundless slanderous rumor-mongering and character assassination".

S.H.A.N. had reported, on the basis of information provided by the "Interim Shan Government" (ISG) insiders, that its "Foreign Minister" Khun Hom was under pressure to quit his office.

Prince Surkhanfa aka Tiger Yawnghwe, President of the group, who claims of having been assigned the job by the majority of the people of Shan State, has denounced the report as "treasonous" and promised "grave consequences" and "severest penalties under law" if S.H.A.N. is found guilty.

Sao Surkhanfa is the eldest son to the late Sao Shwe Thaike, Prince of Yawnghwe and President of the Union of Burma (1948-1952) and the late Mahadevi Sao Hearn Hkam. His younger brothers include the late Chao Tzang (1939-2004) and Harn Yawnghwe, Director of the Brussels-based Euro-Burma Office.

His namesake, the first Surkhanfa (1291-1364), was "the only Shan that ever united these squabbling states into one solid kingdom", according to W.W. Cochrane's "The Shans".

The severest penalty that the Shan Herald Agency for News has been dealt out so far for its reports and publications by Shan activist organizations has been temporary bans on its members and its Independence newsletter, widely read among Shans.

The letter from the ISG is enclosed.

Surkhanfa the Great (1291-1364)	Sao Surkhanfa, President of ISG (1938- )

Click here to get original attach file: response to SHAN.doc