Vietnamese dissident buddhist protests over assembly curbs
HANOI -- Vietnam's most famous Buddhist dissident has asked the prime minister to order an inquiry into obstruction by the police
earlier this month of a religious assembly. The Paris-based International Buddhist Information Bureau (IBIB) said the Venerable
Thich Quang Do had sent a letter to Phan Van Khai to urge a "formal inquiry" over the repression the Unified Buddhist Church of
Vietnam (UBCV) faced during its September 16-19 meeting.
"The action taken by Security Police ... is not only inhumane but unlawful," Do told Khai in his letter dated September 22. Security
forces intimidated members of the Church against attending the meeting in Nguyen Chieu pagoda, Binh Dinh Province. Only about
10 monks could attend it, including UBCV patriarch Thich Huyen Quang and his deputy, Do. "We are surrounded by police but they
haven't done anything yet," a monk told AFP on September 19.
Vietnam's Foreign Ministry denied that day monks were being forced not to attend the assembly, adding the UBCV no longer even
existed. But the church said police in the central provinces of Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Tri "have been systematically interrogating
and intimidating UBCV monks (after...) they heard that the UBCV's two outspoken leaders had called a meeting" IBIB said.
"If any of these monks had committed an offence, Police could have arrested them openly and in perfect legality without resorting to
such underhand practices," Do wrote to Khai. Do, 75, was officially released from house arrest on June 27, two months earlier than
scheduled, in an apparent bid to appease the communist regime's human rights critics.
He was diagnosed with heart problems after his two-year incommunicado detention, and underwent heart surgery in Ho Chi Minh
City on August 28th, IBIB said. In his letter to the premier, Do recalled his meeting with Quang, covered by Vietnamese television, in
April 2003.
Quang, now 86, has been under effective house arrest without charge or trial in the central province of Quang Ngai since 1982. The
talks had raised hopes abroad that Hanoi's position toward the church could change.
"Your frank declarations gave Buddhists the hope that we might at last begin to heal the wounds inflicted upon our community
throughout years of unceasing repression," Do said in his letter.
The UBCV was banned in 1981 by the communist party. The only allowed structure is the Vietnamese Buddhist Church.
Agence France Press - October 01, 2003
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