Myanmar remains tense as thousands of monks 'disappear'

New Delhi: Myanmar remains unstable with fresh reports saying monks are disappearing in large numbers from monasteries.

About 1,400 monks could be missing from one such monastery. But it is not clear if they are fleeing or they are being targeted by the authorities.

These are the monks who led the pro-democracy protests last month.

Hundreds of monks and students were killed and thousands arrested in the army crackdown that followed the protest.

While the international community has condemned the crackdown the US has announced fresh sanctions against 14 senior government officials there.

Myanmar, formerly Burma has been under military rule since 1962. First under Gen Ne Win whose Burmese road to socialism turned the country into an economic shambles. Ne Win was toppled in the wake of the army crushing a popular rebellion in 1988.

The current regime was instrumental in disregarding the results of a popular election in 1990.

Aung San Suu Kyi's party the National League for Democracy won that poll but she was imprisoned shortly thereafter.

The man presently heading the military regime since 1992 is Senior-Gen Than Shwe. He is an expert in psychological operations and believed to be implacably opposed to any accommodation with opposition parties.

Number two in the junta is Deputy Snr-Gen Maung Aye, who is 69 years old. He is an infantry soldier who made his mark in fighting the country's innumerable ethnic insurgencies including the Shans and the Karens.

Number three in the heirarchy is Lt-Gen Thein Sein who is tipped to one day succeed Than Shwe in the top job. He is presently heading a convention drafting a new constitution for Myanmar.

Their common enemy is this diminutive woman Aung San Suu Kyi who is now 62 years old. She has been a prisoner of the regime for the last 17 years.