The Indian Parliamentarians' Forum for Democracy in Burma (IPFDB) held a press conference on Tuesday at the Press Club of India in New Delhi in which they called for national reconciliation in the wake of the election in 2010 and the coming to power of a new government.

Citing the long history of friendship and deep cultural ties between India and Burma, the forum said it “was incumbent upon India, as the world’s largest democracy, to promote democracy, human rights, peace and stability in Burma.”

In a statement released after the meeting, the forum said that despite the elections in November 2010 and hopes that the newly formed government could tackle the issue of political prisoners, there has not been an amnesty for the political prisoners who are said to number close to 2,000. They are held in the country's 43 prisons and many are serving sentences of several decades after trials without getting access to legal representation.

The forum welcomed the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi last November but said her release alone does not signify Burma’s transition to democracy.

Since the elections last November the human rights situation in Burma has deteriorated, the forum said, with the Burmese government breaking cease-fires in Kachin, Karen and Shan states, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes.

“Also of concern are the ongoing tensions in ethnic border areas and armed conflict with some armed ethnic groups, which continue to engender serious human rights violations, including attack against civilian populations, extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, arbitrary arrest and detention, internal displacement, land confiscations, the recruitment of child soldiers, as well as forced labour and portering.”

To show their solidarity and moral support to the leader of the Burmese democracy movement, Suu Kyi and the people of Burma, they collected the signatures of Indian parliamentarians to call on the Burmese government to release prisoners of conscience, end the conflicts in ethnic states and create conditions that would allow the safe and secure return of exiled Burmese to their country.

The letter was signed by more than 100 Indian members of Parliament across the parties, including both the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party, to be sent to the President Thein Sein through the National League for Democracy (NLD) party led by Suu Kyi.

“It is our sincere hope that the present government in Burma genuinely strives for the promotion of essential democratic principles and engages in genuine national reconciliation and holds parley with all stake holders for a peaceful solution of political problems through meaningful dialogue,” the forum said in a statement.