By Zin Linn
Currently in Burma, there is no freedom of association, no freedom of _expression, no freedom of the press and no freedom of profession under the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) or in other words the Burmese military regime. Hundreds of prisoners of conscience and political prisoners are still held, and they include politicians, students, doctors, farmers, teachers, journalists, writers, lawyers, actors and housewives and they are all serving long-term prison sentences in the numerous notorious prisons, scattered all over Burma.
Moreover, the regime systematically oppresses religious freedom by putting secret agents into the inner circle of all religious groups and exploits the religious traditions and ceremonies as a tool for getting supports from all faiths.
Buddhist monks are restricted from promoting human rights and religious freedom.
Other religious faiths are not allowed to build new shrines for worship.
Muslim and Christian groups also have faced their mosques and churches destroyed and clergy arrested.
It is a fact that clergies and prelates from various religious faiths including nuns who were unjustly arrested and put on trial arbitrarily – and are being held under abhorrent conditions for peacefully practicing their religious rights.
Over 1,500 political prisoners languish in Burma’s hellish prisons and still the arrests and unlawful detentions continue unabatedly. Prison conditions in Burma are harsher than in any other countries that prisoners are often put on shackles and thrown into solitary confinement for years, and never provided with healthy food and water or proper medical care. Instead, abuse, usage of provocative language and torture are the order of the day.
The most atrocious chapter of contemporary Burmese history is the latest assassination attempt by the Burmese military junta on the pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi – leader of the National League of Democracy (NLD) and her entourage at Dapeyin on 30 May 2003. Burmese troops and government sponsored goons and thugs attacked the NLD motorcade led by Aung San Suu Kyi who fortunately survived with injuries, subsequently arrested and still remains in custody – House arrest.
Officials from the U.S. Embassy in Rangoon visited the site of the May 30 violent attack on Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters and told that there was a premeditated ambush on the Lady's motorcade. Circumstances and reports from local residents around Dapeyin indicated that the government- controlled thugs conducted the attack. The debris and other remnants found at the scene suggested of a major clash, which could easily have resulted afflicting in grave, serious and fatal injuries to a large numbers of people.
In addition to Aung San Suu Kyi, at least 300 NLD supporters were either detained, or missing, may be dead after the premeditated ambush on 30 May or in other words described as “Black Friday.”
NLD leaders both young and old were targeted in this blood curdling assault. At present the welfare of the NLD vice-chairman U Tin Oo and other senior leaders who are still under detention are daily evolving into a subject of serious concern. According to a reliable source in Rangoon, the figures provided by the SPDC regarding the number of detainees held on and after May 30 was in conflict with the figures prepared by the local analysts. Number of detainees in Dapeyin ambush is 118 according the names of those arrested. After the ambush there was a manhunt and it was learnt that a total of 197 people were detained. Although it was an imperfect detainee-list, there was a serious difference in numbers, but so far not acknowledge by the SPDC of the actual number of people being detained.
Up to the end of December 2003, altogether nearly a hundred people from the Dapeyin attack were released. That means the real number in prison is still 210, who were arrested consequent of the Dapeyin incident, local analysts reveals. According to a news source in Rangoon, it is reliably learnt that there are around 1560 political prisoners languishing in Burma's 39 prisons.
Aung San Suu Kyi is currently under house arrest after the political crackdown on her and he party on 30 May, leaving its leadership in detention and its branches closed nationwide. Some of the senior members have been freed from house arrest but others remain confined to their homes or in jail and the party offices are still closed.
According to Prof. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro who returned from his sixth visit to Rangoon in early November 2003, announced that Aung San Suu Kyi stressed that the political dialogue should move forward despite the May 30 setback but demanded an investigation into the attack, which witnesses and rights groups say may have left dozens of her supporters dead.
"She says there should be justice and accountability, not revenge."
Prof. Pinheiro, a Brazilian academic, had made a visit to Burma to find out what really happened in the 30 May violence, but he was not allowed to go beyond Rangoon by the military rulers.
. "The authorities have not yet agreed to my proposal to conduct an independent assessment of the May 30 incident," he said to the media.
Pinheiro said he had conducted interviews with victims and witnesses, including the NLD leader, Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, and with the authorities.
"What happened at Depayin has deep political implications and constitutes a regression in the area of human rights," Brazilian academic said.
Prof. Pinheiro also called for the unconditional release of all detainees who had been detained or put under house arrest. Moreover, he strongly urged the regime to start a thorough and transparent investigation into the Dapeyin incident and to pay compensation to those who were injured and to the families of those who were killed.
In the past 15 years since the democracy uprising in 1988, little progress has been made in all sectors especially in the sphere of democracy and human rights in Burma. The U.N. Special Rapporteur also criticized and said that Burma's political reforms were going simply too slowly. He also made a strong suggestion to speed up change and insisted that all political prisoners must be freed.
I n the mean time, on 15 December 2003 the junta's foreign minister Win Aung told the 12-nation Bangkok Meeting that political parties including the NLD would take part in the seven-steps national convention program pronounced by his prime minister. Already the said seven point road map for peace and drafting of a new Constitution under tutelage of the junta was rejected in March 1996 and NLD withdrew on the grounds it was against all democratic norms. The NLD has not commented on the claim that it will attend the said convention. Political observers in Rangoon said that many of NLD’s leaders are in detention and it is unlikely for the NLD to have made such decision.
Summing up the situation, there could be no progress in democratisation process and national reconciliation in Burma while the military junta is crookedly using political prisoners including the Nobel Laureate as scapegoats thrown into confinement to prolong the military dictatorship for another decade. If the SPDC truly want to show its sincerity, it should release all political prisoners prior to launching any so called “Road-map.”
According to the figures prepared by the National Coalition Government of Union of Burma (NCGUB) in exile, though the figures has to be confirmed, however there have to be a total of 1562 political prisoners in 39 notorious prisons throughout the country.
By the end of 2003, a total of 84 political prisoners have so far passed away in the country’s 39 prisons as a result of government’s negligence of considering the political prisoners languishing in the prisons as human beings. Please find the figures in abstract as appendix.
I take this opportunity to appeal all those who believes in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, together with the heads of states all over to press for the immediate and unconditional release of all the Burmese political prisoners who are languishing in the Burmese notorious prisons.
I am reminded of what our leader Aung San Suu Kyi has once appealed to the international community: '' Please use your liberty to promote ours''
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