New Delhi (Mizzima) – An Indian Member of Parliament and activists on Tuesday echoed the international outcry for the release of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, facing a trial in Rangoon’s Insein prison.
Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal (United) party and a Member of Parliament of India from Bihar State in the Rajya Sabha(Upper House), said he supports the international community’s demand for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.
“We are here to mobilise world opinion. The whole world is asking the junta to release Aung San Suu Kyi and to pave the way for democracy,” Yadav said in a seminar organized by South Asian Forum for Peoples’ Initiative at the Gandhi Peace Foundation in New Delhi on Tuesday.
However, the military junta is not paying heed to the international community demanding the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and democratic change in Burma, Yadav said, “Nobody can stop freedom,” he said expressing hope that Burma will soon achieve freedom.
Yadav’s call is among the first few among Indian politicians who have raised their voice for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi after she was put on trial by the junta in Burma’s notorious Insein prison since the first week of this month. Earlier leaders of the Forward Bloc, a Left constituent had condemned the junta and demanded her release.
On the sidelines of the seminar, Sudhindra Bhadri, General Secretary of the South Asian Forum for Peoples’ Initiative, expressed concern over India’s silence regarding the trial against Burma’s pro-democracy leader saying that the Indian government should also take steps in calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.
“On behalf of the people and peoples’ organization, I also request the Indian government to take some steps to air their concern because… we are a democratic system,” Bhadri said.
“Therefore all democratic people, governments and nations should support the call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi,” he added.
Bhadri also said, though India is busy with the formation of a new government, it should strongly voice concern about the deteriorating situation and the trial against the Burmese recipient of India’s most honourable award – the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding.
Burma’s military regime has charged the Nobel Peace Laureate for breaching her terms of detention and allowing a U.S. citizen, John William Yettaw, to enter her house after he allegedly swam his way into her lakeside home.
She was charged under section 22 of the penal code of Burma’s 1974 constitution. She is being tried since May 18, and on Tuesday she gave a testimony in court.
The trial had triggered international criticism. The United Nations, United States, Canada, Australia, Israel, the European Union and Asian countries such as Japan, Pakistan and ASEAN members have all issued press statements expressing their concern over Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial and calling for her unconditional and immediate release.
Though the international community has voiced its outrage over the trial against Aung San Suu Kyi, the world’s largest democracy, India, has been conspicuous by its silence over the ongoing trial against the Burmese democracy icon.
