New Delhi - Burma’s military rulers on Thursday rejected two recent US reports on Human Rights records and counter-narcotic efforts, claiming the reports were baseless and politically motivated.
Burma’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday, published two separate statements in the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper, and said the US reports were biased, unfounded and based on a ‘disinformation campaign’ launched by opposition groups.
“The baseless allegations of human rights violations, which invariably emanated from anti-government elements have found their way into the reports of the US State Department,” one of the Foreign Ministry’s statements said.
On February 25 and 27, the US State Department released reports on global human rights conditions and counter-narcotic efforts respectively. The human rights report said, Burma’s military rulers continue committing severe human rights violations and brutally suppress dissidents.
The junta continues to randomly arrest and detain activists indefinitely and without charges. It also indulges in other extra-judicial killings, disappearances, rape and torture, the report said.
However, the junta said, “Instead of making false allegations regarding other nations, about human rights matters, the United States should concentrate on uplifting its own human rights records.”
Burma’s military government, since August 2008, has begun a judicial crackdown on dissidents by arresting activists and sentencing them to long prison terms.
According to Thailand-based Assistant Association for Political Prisoners in Burma (AAPP-B), currently there are at least 2,100 political prisoners languishing in prisons across the country.
Despite the junta’s denial of the allegations leveled by the US reports, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, who last month visited the country, said human rights in Burma was still challenging.
Burma’s military government also dismissed the US report on counter-narcotic efforts that lists Burma among three countries in the world that had “failed demonstrably” to meet its international counter-narcotics obligations.
“It is regrettable that such an unfair categorization was made, ignoring Myanmar’s [Burma’s] strenuous efforts in combating narcotic drugs,” the Foreign Ministry statement said.
The US report said, in 2007, the cultivation and production of opium had once again risen to new heights. It also said, production of synthetic drugs, including Amphetamine-type stimulants were increasing.
The statement said Burma has been waging a relentless war against illicit narcotic drugs for decades, with little or no external assistance.
“It is a sad fact that these sincere efforts, have not received the full acknowledgement and support that they deserve,” said the statement, calling the US reports inaccurate and a politically motivated assessment.”
