Call to prayer for Burma's oppressed Karen minority

Christian Solidarity Worldwide is calling for prayers for Burma this weekend on the first anniversary of a Karen leader in Burma.

The Karen are a minority ethnic group living mainly in Burma's Irrawaddy delta that includes many Christians among its numbers.

The former General Secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU), Padoh Mahn Sha Lah Phan, was assassinated by agents of the Burmese regime on 14 February 2008. He was shot dead by gunmen at his home in Maesot, on the Thai-Burmese border, just three days after meeting a CSW delegation.

CSW’s East Asia Team Leader, Benedict Rogers said: “I had the privilege of knowing Padoh Mahn Sha well. He was dedicated not only to his own Karen people, but to the cause of freedom for all the people of Burma. He had a remarkable ability to unite people of different political, ethnic and religious backgrounds, and a vision for a peaceful, democratic, federal Burma with respect for human rights for all. He paid the ultimate sacrifice in pursuit of that vision, but the cause he lived and died for lives on."

Mr Rogers called on people around the world to remember the people of Burma and particularly the Karen, who he said "continue to suffer at the hands of one of the world’s most brutal regimes".

"We urge people to unite, and to pray for peace and freedom for Burma," he said.