The highest monk supervisory committee in Myanmar, the State Sangha Maha Nayarka Committee has imposed one-year ban on an ultra-nationalist monk U Wirathu. The committee made the announcement on its decision in a statement issued on 10 March. U Wirathu, is based in Mandalay Ma Soe Yine monastery and he also the heads a pro-Buddhist the Association for Protection of Race and Religion, more popularly known with its Myanmar acronym Ma Ba Tha. The announcement by the monk committee said it decided to impose ban on U Wirathu because they are contributing hatred among the members of different religions and also as it aggravated the law and order situation in the country and also as he preach in bias against a political party. It said the ban would remain in place until 9 March next year. The announcement said U Wirathu’s comments were in breach of the directives number 83, 93 and 94 earlier adopted by the committee. And the decision on the ban was taken at a plenary meeting of the 47 members of the committee held in Yangon on 9 March. The Ayeyarwady Region government has also imposed ban on U Wirthu from speaking in the region after his sermon on 9 February include politically bias messages against some political parties and individual politians. He made comparison on performance of the current and previous government. The sermon, which also include praise of the military’s motto, “Our Three Main Causes”, was preached at the native village of former president U Thein Sein in Ngaputaw. U Wirathu defied the ban and gave a preacher at Thone Kyine village in Ma U Bin village on 8 March. The move prompted the highest monk committee to impose nationwide ban on him. The committee also instructed Ma Ba Tha to abide by regulations. The committee released a declaration last July, which said Ma Ba Tha was not formed under the guidelines prescribed for monks. Reference: 7 Day Daily, 28 March, Number 1406/ The Voice Daily Volume 4 Number 301.