New Delhi (Mizzima) – The Indian government has been urged by a Washington based Independent Non-Governmental Organization on Thursday to pressurize the Burmese military junta to immediately release Noble Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Freedom House, which has been monitoring the situation of political rights and civil liberties in Burma since 1972, called on the Indian government to break its prolonged silence over the sham trial against Aung San Suu Kyi by the Burmese regime for allegedly harbouring an American man John William Yettaw who swam to her lake side house and stayed there for two nights in early May.
"Freedom House is deeply disappointed that the Indian government is turning a blind eye to Burma’s shameful behaviour," said Jennifer Windsor, Freedom House Executive Director in its press release issued on Thursday.
“As the world's largest democracy and a regional leader, India has an obligation to defend Suu Kyi and at least attempt to influence the actions of Burma’s ruling junta,” she said.
The call from Freedom House came after 118 Indian Members of Parliament (MPs) pressurized Manmohan Singh to take up the issue of Aung San Suu Kyi and to secure the release of the democracy icon, who is the recipient of the Jawaharlal Nehru Award, and to support the restoration of democracy in Burma.
“As the largest democracy and a good neighbour, we have a moral obligation to rescue her and the country from devastation,” Abani Roy, a Member of Parliament of the Upper House (Rajya Sabha) said, in a press conference held on Tuesday.
Sharad Joshi, also a MP and co-convener of IPFDB also urged the Indian National Congress party which leads the new Government of India to review its soft approach towards the military regime. He felt that its silence over the suffering of the Burmese people has made the regime more aggressive.
Despite the international community including United Nation (UN), United States (US), European Union (EU) and Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) expressing their concerns and calling for the release of Suu Kyi and demand political reforms in Burma, the Indian government has been keeping quite over her trial which is going on for more than a month.
India made a ‘U’ turn in supporting the democracy movement in Burma and stepped up its cosy relation with the military regime after it adopted the ‘Look East’ policy in 1994.
Now, India and Burma are engaging actively in bilateral trade and economic cooperation in the area of Roads, Power, Oil Refinery, Transmission Lines, Telecommunications, Information Technology and other developmental projects such as developing the Sittwe port and a Kaladan Multi-modal Transit Transport project.
According to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, bilateral trade between Burma and India reached at US $ 901.3 million for the fiscal year 2007-08.
