We urge India to suspend all bilate

[abslhq1@xxxxxxxxx]

Statement on current political oppression in Burma
September 4, 2000

(We urge India to suspend all bilateral cooperation with military junta)

The military regime forcibly returned Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters to Rangoon at Friday night from Dallah town, where they were stopped for nine days from travelling to another town for party work. Although the government claimed that they were "escorted" to Rangoon, they were in fact forced by about 200 armed riot police to go back to the capital.

Moreover, the security forces in the early morning of Saturday raided the headquarters of National League for Democracy (NLD) and seized many important documents. The government has also placed all the ten members of Central Committee of NLD under house arrest. The communication including telephone lines to the homes of these leaders are cut while diplomats who try to approach their houses were turned away by the security forces and Military Intelligence personnel. The NLD party youth members who accompanied with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to Dallah town are still detained by the Military Intelligence.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Nobel Peace Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi won the landslide victory in the 1990 general elections taking 392 of the 485 seats contested. But the military regime refused to hand over power to the NLD. Instead, more repressive methods were practiced to crack down the NLD party in particular and the democratic movement in general. There have been reports from sources in the Burmese junta that it has aimed to "annihilate" the NLD party by the end of this year. And Burmese government has, through its state-controlled newspapers, hinted that it wants to ban the NLD party sooner or later.

For more than a decade, NLD party and its leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi have been waging a non-violent satyagraha against one of the world's most tyrannical military dictatorships and struggling for the restoration of human rights and democracy in Burma. She is widely hailed as the Mahatama Gandhi of Burma.

India, as the world's largest democracy country, has a long tradition of supporting democracy and freedom struggles around the world. It was the first neighboring country of Burma to have had expressed its support to the Burmese people who called for restoration of democracy in Burma in 1988. However, since 1994, Indian government has entered into a "working relationship" with the military junta in Burma, having better ties including diplomatic and economic cooperation.

In a conversation with Indian journalists in December 1995, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said that she expects India to help the movement for democracy in Burma. She said: "?.(We) would like India to do whatever it can to help us in our movement for democratic reforms", and added, "I am not unaware of its difficulties, but India has a special duty to help promote democracy here".

We, members of All Burma Students League, are outraged and condemn the on-going crackdown on the NLD party and its activities. We condemn the junta for having grossly infringed the rights of a legal political party to function freely and for violation of the freedom of movement, expression and assembly of the citizens of Burma. We are very concerned with the safety and wellbeing of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political activists who are being detained or put under house arrest.

We once again would like to request the people of India in general and the Government of India in particular to come forward with pro-active support and solidarity with the Burmese people who are struggling for justice, democracy and human rights in the country. We earnestly urge the Government of India to review the current India's policy towards Burma and to suspend all the bilateral cooperation including economic ties with the military junta in Burma.

We request the Government of India:

1) to urge the military junta in Burma to lift all the restrictions imposed on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of NLD party;
2) to urge the military junta to enter into a meaningful dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD to break the current deadlock;
3) to join with other countries of the world in mobilizing concerted international economic and diplomatic pressure against the military junta towards restoration of democracy and human rights in Burma.


Central Committee
All Burma Students League

Contact telephone: +91-11-3017172/ 5529817/ 5511076
Fax: +91-11-3793397/ 5529817
Email: abslhq1@xxxxxxxxx



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