Indian activists call on Delhi to stop supporting the Burmese repression

» 10/09/2007 14:18 http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=10510&size=A

Indian activists call on Delhi to stop supporting the Burmese repression

by Nirmala Carvalho
According to Lenin Raghuvanshi, winner of the 2007 Gwangju Prize, the behaviour of the Indian executive shames the entire population. Only with the help of the international community, Beijing and Dehli in first place, can the carnage of Myanmar be stopped

Delhi (AsiaNews) – Indian people “feel ashamed and disheartened by this passive stand of our government towards Myanmar” and invite the executive “urge our government to break ties with the military rulers who have shown to be extremely repressive to their citizens”. This is the sense of an open letter sent to the government of the Indian Union by Lenin Raghuvanshi, Director of People Vigilance Committee on Human Rights and winner of the 2007 Gwangju award, the Asian “Noble peace prize”.
In the text, the activist underlines that “We are witnessing one of the most remarkable peaceful struggle by the people of Myanmar for the democracy and civil rights. It is so painful to see this
struggle being suppressed with utmost cruelty by the military rulers of the country. This kind of treatment is outrageous in modern society and we strongly condemn this.”. This however “is not enough: many governments across the world have raised their voice against this outrage, while Delhi remains in silence. We feel ashamed and disheartened by this stand of our government especially when India had a rich tradition for supporting democratic and humanistic movements in the past we have always stood for the values over interests, and we must continue to do so”.
Speaking to AsiaNews, Raghuvanshi comments: “we are Indians and among our great masters are Buddha and Ghandi. For this reason we can only admire the non violent strength of the Burmese monks, and cry for the massacre carried out by the military, which has no sense and only brings pain and sorrow”.
Of the same opinion John Joseph Clancy, Chairman of the Board, Asian Human Rights Commission speaking to AsiaNews he underlines: “in order to bring this to a just end, the cooperation of international organisations is fundamental, but above all we need the will of China and India: neighbouring countries who are anxious to get all the oil and natural resources of Myanmar- should intervene in the situation”. In fact according to Clancy, “to insure access to gas, oil and timber, Beijing and Delhi are blocking international intervention against the junta’s brutality. Now is the time to make our voices heard, and demand at least that the International Red Cross be allowed access to the country. The slaughter must end”.