RELEASE AUNG SAN SUU KYI

By -
STATEMENT OF SUPPORT FOR RELEASE OF AUNG SAN SUU KYI


We, women’s groups, students’ groups, health groups, democratic rights’ groups, civil society organizations and concerned individuals express our deep distress at the recent political developments in Burma.

On 14 May 2009, Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, 63, who has been under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years was transferred to the notorious Insein Jail in Rangoon by the Burmese military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SDPC) and is being ttried at special court on trumped-up charges of violating the terms of her house arrest. Her current six-year term under house arrest was to come to an end on 27 May, 2009.

Diplomats and journalists are being prevented from attending the trial. Clearly, this is an attempt to preemptively sabotage the election scheduled by the SPDC itself in 2010. It is also an attempt to crush the spirit of Daw Suu and other pro democracy voices from Burma, and persist with a regime that is best known for its brazen suppression of human rights of the people of Burma all over the country.

As progressive, pro democracy voices from India, we condemn this and demand the immediate and unconditional release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all the political prisoners.

We urge the SPDC to recognize the demand of the people of Burma and their freedom to choose their own leader and government.

Leaders and governments the world over have issued statements condemning the utterly undemocratic and inhuman treatment meted out to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi by the Burmese Government. However, India, the largest democracy in the world and significant neighbour has unfortunately chosen to remain silent.

The Government of India must break its silence and call for the immediate and unconditional release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. India must stand for democratic rights and demonstrate its sincerity at this critical time. It must stand up for Daw Suu whom it honoured the prestigious ‘Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding’ in 1993.

Sd/-

Shri Surendra Mohan, Former MP, New Delhi

Shri Prabhash Joshi, Veteran Journalist, New Delhi

Shri Kuldip Nayyar, Journalist and Former MP, New Delhi

Justice Rajinder Sachar, PUCL, New Delhi

Nandita Haksar, Human Rights Lawyer

Vani Subramanian, Saheli Women's Resource Centre

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Greek, French Elections Sound Death Knell for Austerity

By -
By Julio Godoy BERLIN, May 7, 2012 (IPS) - The voting out of conservative governments in France and Greece this weekend heralds the end of harsh European austerity programmes and ushers in an era of new economic, investment, and social policies aimed at restoring growth and employment across the continent. In France, the Socialist presidential candidate François Hollande, a champion of government-led economic growth and employment strategies, accomplished a comfortable victory over the incumbent president Nicolas Sarkozy – the man often seen as the poster child of the austerity programmes in practice all over Europe. In Greece, citizens penalised the two strongest, traditional parties, New Democracy and the Pan- Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), for their recent technocratic coalition government that has imposed a severe austerity plan on the country, which deepened the five-year-long recession and ignited a steep increase of unemployment and poverty Instead, Greek citizens cast the
Read more

Home Ministry’s Population Register Worse than Prisoner Identification

By -
NPR is not Citizens Register, it’s a Register of Residents like UID/Aadhaar Privacy Bill should precede creation of NPR, RFID & Intelligence Grid Biometric data collection an act of “illegitimate advances of the (police) state” & businesses New Delhi 11/11/2011: Quite like prisoners whose biometric data like finger prints can be collected only under the Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920, it is quite outrageous that National Population Register (NPR) is taking biometric data of every resident and citizen of India disregarding absence of any legislative mandate for it. In the case of prisoners their biometric data is required to be destroyed on their acquittal but in the case of NPR and Centralized Identities Register (CIDR) of Unique Identification (UID)/Aadhaar Number, the same will be recorded for ever. Are residents and citizens worse than prisoners? In a letter to Planning Commission, Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL) has drawn their attention towards th
Read more

Open letter to Kim Jong-un urging a new era in North Korea

By -
Kim Jong-un Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army Pyongyang Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Dear Supreme Commander Kim: I am writing to recognize the passing of your father and acknowledge your leadership of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and to raise a number of concerns and ideas which we believe would enhance your leadership, improve the standing of your country and benefit your people. It is clear that the coming year will be one of great challenges for you and the people of North Korea. It can also be a time of great opportunity, both for your legacy and for the well-being of all the people of North Korea, provided that you seize this moment in history to ensure that your government respects the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the North Korean people. I am seriously concerned about what is happening to the people of your country. More than 200,000 men, women and children are still being held in a system of prisons and labor camp
Read more