Burmese pro-democracy activists based in India took to the streets on Wednesday to protest against the electoral laws recently announced by the military rulers of Burma.
Nearly 200 activists gathered at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi and vent their anger against the State Peace and Development Council for its vindictive steps towards the democratic actors in the country.
“The junta has again made another dreadful assault against the pro-democracy struggle by enacting the so-called laws relating to the election to be held in 2010. The laws are utterly undemocratic and absolutely unfair,” said Dr. Tint Swe, a Burmese MP in exile.
Even a group of Indian parliamentarians from different political parties came out to raise their voice against the recently declared election laws of Burma. The new election laws bar an individual, who served (or is serving) a jail term. The law targets none other than the opposition leader and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, such that she cannot participate in the polls scheduled later this year.
“The electoral laws enacted on 8 March 2010 are extremely undemocratic. The laws deliberately bar Aung San Suu Kyi and all key political prisoners from participating in the elections,” said in a statement issued on March 17 by the Indian Parliamentarians' Forum for Democracy in Burma.
It also added, “We have expressed our disapproval of the constitution of 2008 in Burma because the genuine peoples’ representatives were not allowed to contribute in the drafting process and the referendum was a sham”.
Hence the forum does not ‘believe the election held under these laws meet any democratic standard’. That kind of elections will not resolve the problems of Burma, it asserted.
The statement, signed by Sharad Joshi and Supriya Sule, concluded urging the Burmese junta ‘to release the genuine democracy leader of Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi and begin a dialogue with her and other legitimate representatives of ethnic groups towards national reconciliation before the elections’.
It may be mentioned that the military regime drafted the controversial constitution excluding the legitimate representatives of the people and ignoring the legitimate demands of the ethnic people of the Union. Under this constitution clause, nearly 25 per cent of parliamentary seats are reserved for the military.
Thin Thin Aung of the Women’s League of Burma said that the 2010 Burmese elections will not solve the problems of the country. Rather, she added, regional instability will continue, refugee flow will go on, narcotic drug and smuggling of arms will persist, human rights violations will remain, foreign insurgents can keep on enjoying Burma’s hospitality among others.
Speaking to this reporter from New Delhi, Ms Thin Thin expressed happiness at the recommendation made by the UN's special rapporteur on human rights, Tomas Quintana who said that some of these human rights violations in Burma may entail categories of crimes against humanity or war crimes under the terms of the statute of the International Criminal Court.
She concluded saying, “We appeal to the UN Security Council to investigate the responsible generals of Burma right now. We will also be grateful to India and the United Nations Security Council members if they call for an immediate release of Suu Kyi and all political prisoners and free, fair, inclusive and credible elections in Burma.
On the other hand, Burma’s Movement for Democracy and Rights of Ethnic Nationalities has organized a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Bangkok on March 19.
Various speakers including U Thein Oo (National League for Democracy), Naw Zipporah Sein (Karen National Union) and Khin Ohmar (Forum for Democracy in Burma), will analyze Burma’s election laws with the perspectives of the 1990 polls.
