International Press Coverage of the Assassination of KNU's Pado Mahn Sha in Feb 08

http://antidictatorship.wordpress.com/2008/02/17/assassination-of-pado-mahn-shar-lar-phan/

During my trip I met an analyst often quoted in the international media.

He said, "As Mahn Sha was the brains of the KNU, for the SPDC, that would be a great coup."

This man went to the memorial service, and mentioned how sad it was, "Lots of crying. The family did not come due to security reasons. I did not get to talk to Saw Hse Hse (Pado Mahn Sha's son.

"The KNU is moving its HQ back to (the Liberated Areas) where it can have armed guards. He stayed in Mae Sot took long in one place and was too open and accepting. Anybody could just walk in the house, so it made it just easier for the assassins."

I also met a woman who used to work for a well known Human Rights organization. She was in Mae Sot when the assassination took place, and "only came back the morning of the memorial service." She said there was a lot of panic, and very real fear. Then she added ironically, "All it did though was increase the bribe that Burmese (dissidents) have to pay for 'traffic violations' when they are intentionally stopped by the local (Thai) authorities."

Since then the Bangkok press has suggested Mahn Sha might have been killed because he refused to allow access for a damn to be built in KNU controlled areas by Thai companies and called for more complete probes into the motivation behind the killing.