KALADAN NEWS

Rohingyas Cast Doubt on SPDC National Convention

Chittagong, April 7: Rohingyas cast doubt on SPDC National Convention which is to be convened on 17^th May 2004, said a press release of ARNO.

In a press release issued on 6th April, 2004 Arakan Rohingya National Organization (ARNO) expressed its concern over the SPDC sponsored National Convention scheduled to be held on 17^th May 2004 to draft a state constitution.

The statement is reported verbatim: “ Without free and fair participation and representation of NLD, other political parties and ethnic nationalities, including the Rohingyas of Arakan, the convention lacks credibility and as such the peoples of Burma as well as international community will not accept it.

The SPDC’s Roadmap has yet to be manifested by real and tangible changes on the ground towards a genuinely free, transparent, and an inclusive process involving all political parties, ethnic nationalities and elements of civil society.

|However, the news that NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi would be freed soon and that she would be allowed to participate at the National Convention shows a positive sign, but it cannot be believed until it practically comes true because of the regime’s repetitive failures in its previous commitments. Now the common questions with the Burmese people is ‘when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi would be arrested again’.

There are an estimated 1300 to 1400 political prisoners in various jails of Burma. To make a good starter Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners, including the ailing student leader Min Ko Naing now at Akyab jail must be freed; national reconciliation must be brought out through tripartite dialogue _ among SPDC, NLD with other democratic oppositions, and ethnic nationalities, including Rohingya representatives _ as called for by the United Nations annually since 1994; there must be transparency and inclusiveness in their efforts on democratic values and principles. Otherwise, instead of solution the situation will aggravate.”

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