By Vishal Arora
New Delhi, Sep 25 (IANS) A British parliamentarian who recently visited India says New Delhi’s policy towards a “brutal and illegal regime” in Myanmar is deplorable, rubbishing its argument that it respects that country’s sovereignty.
“India’s policy towards Burma is frankly deplorable. Providing arms and military training to one of the most brutal regimes on the planet is inexcusable and it simply won’t do for the government to defend itself by arguing that it does not interfere in the internal affairs of another country,” said John Bercow, a Conservative Party MP from House of Commons for Buckingham and the co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Burma.
Bercow, who was part of a delegation that visited Chin refugees in the national capital and the India-Myanmar border in Mizoram, told IANS that “Burma was run by an illegal military junta and was committing gross abuses of human rights in violation of international laws.
“For the Indian Government to turn a blind eye to those abuses in the reckless pursuit of commercial advantage is disgraceful. Quite apart from stopping arms sales, it should reconsider its whole approach to trade with Burma until the government stops killing its own citizens and starts the necessary transition to democracy. The country of Gandhi and Nehru can and should do a great deal better than it is doing at present,” he added.
Baroness Caroline Cox of Queensbury, member and former deputy speaker of House of Lords, said in a statement, “Burma’s neighbours, particularly India, China and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), must use their influence with the regime to bring an end to the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the military.
“In particular, India should re-examine its conscience and stop providing arms and military training to the regime. India should also reconsider its economic investments in Burma, until a meaningful transition to democracy is underway,” she added.
Baroness Cox was part of the delegation from Britain-based rights groups Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) and Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART) that visited India from Sep 14 to 21.
“The provision of arms and military training (by India) to a brutal and illegal regime which will undoubtedly use those arms to crush its own people is immoral and unwise,” Benedict Rogers, advocacy officer for South Asia at CSW, told IANS.
Holding the present regime responsible for instability, conflicts, refugee outflows, HIV/AIDS epidemic and drug trafficking in Myanmar, Rogers, who travelled with the delegation, added that it was in India’s interests to pursue policies which would create a more stable country, and “that means working for an end to the gross human rights violations and encouraging meaningful dialogue between the regime, the democracy movement and the ethnic nationals leading to a peaceful transition to democracy”.
The delegation released its report here Monday. It carried first-hand accounts of torture, conditions in prison camps, forced labour, rape, religious persecution, forced marriage and cultural genocide.
“According to one witness, prisoners in Chin State face even more severe torture and living conditions than other prisoners, because it is a more isolated part of the country. Prisoners are shackled and chained, yoked like oxen and forced to plough fields, and if they attempt to escape they are placed on a fire to burn, stabbed with knives, and then forced into a tub of salt water,” the report said.
It quoted another witness as saying that he had been arrested and hung upside down for an entire night, with soldiers beating him and banging his body against a pillar continuously.
“Another man was beaten so badly that he is now paralysed. Numerous further testimonies of torture, forced labour and sexual violence have been documented.”
The report also noted that Indian government’s policy of “economic investment, military cooperation and uncritical engagement with the SPDC (State Development and Peace Committee)”, was due to its concerns about “balancing China’s influence, combating insurgents within its own borders and developing its ‘Look East’ economic policy.
“This includes significant trade and investment, and the provision and sale of arms and military training and cooperation,” it added.
According to rights groups, Myanmar’s ethnic nationalities, including the Chin, have suffered discrimination for many decades. Since General Ne Win seized power in a military coup in 1962, and under successive military regimes, oppression has intensified, with policies seemingly designed not only to eliminate political opposition groups but to achieve the annihilation of the cultural identity and even physical survival of non-Burman ethnic nationalities, they complain.
Pro-democracy protests reached new heights recently after the SPDC decided to increase fuel prices by close to 500 percent.