Rangoon, 14 Nov. (AKI) - While Burma's brutal crackdown has generated headlines around the world, a media blackout inside the country means very few people know whether there has been any political progress.

The US envoy to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad on Wednesday complained that the military leaders in Burma (or Myanmar) have made no move to accept democratic reforms, while human rights groups say mass detentions and torture are commonplace.

The country's deeply-revered monks led up to 100,000 people on the streets of Rangoon in September in the biggest protests against the ruling junta in nearly two decades.

The demonstrations were violently suppressed and there were mass arrests and reports of beatings.

The generals say 10 people were killed in the crackdown but diplomats put the toll much higher. No one knows the precise number of arrests.

Reports on Wednesday quoted dissidents as saying that two prominent anti-government activists, including a Buddhist monk have been arrested.

Human rights organisation, Amnesty International, says there are "grave and ongoing human rights violations".

"Widespread arbitrary detentions, hostage taking, beatings and torture in custody and enforced disappearances clearly disprove any claims from the Myanmar government of returning normality," said Catherine Baber, Amnesty's Asia-Pacific programme director.

While it has been difficult for the international media to report from within Burma, there has also been a media blackout which restricts almost all outlets.

"Most people in the country do not watch the national television news bulletins because the news is completely opposite to the reality," said a resident of the Burmese city of Rangoon (also known as Yangon), in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI).

"The junta continues to 'inform' through officials channels."

Burmese state television has repeatedly run the images of smiling generals greeting the United Nations' special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, who has just returned from a visit to the country.

Local dailies - whether in English or Burmese - such as the New Light of Myanmar and the weekly Myanmar Times, also run images of pro-democracy leader and Nobel prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi together with Aung Kyi, the man appointed by the government to mediate with opposition leaders.

On a daily basis the state-run, New Light of Myanmar, accuses the BBC and VOA (Voice of America) of lying about the situation in Burma saying that they incited the monks to protest.

Despite these accusations, the Burmese people appear to have chosen to listen to international news bulletins.

"If we gather to watch satellite channels in public places we risk ending up in prison for seven years," one monk who wished to remain anonymous told AKI.

After September's crackdown, "many monks have returned home for fear of being arrested," said another young Buddhist monk.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch and other groups have called for China, Thailand, the US and other countries to boycott an international gem sale taking place in Burma.

They claim the regime uses the gem auction to raise money and finance its corrupt regime.

Human Rights Watch said the state-run Myanmar Gems Enterprise generated sales of almost 300 million dollars in 2006-2007 - an increase of almost 45 percent over the previous year's gem earnings.

Meanwhile, UN human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, who is on a five-day visit to Burma, met cabinet ministers in the junta’s remote, jungle capital Naypyitaw on Wednesday.

Pinheiro's visit which ends on Thursday, is part of an investigation into widespread allegations of human rights abuses since the regime’s violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests in September.