National Reconciliation in Myanmar.

http://cplash.com/post/National-Reconciliation-in-Myanmar973.html

Published on Tue, 24 Feb 2009 11:08
Posted by SatbirSinghBedi

According to Times of India dated 24.2.2009, declaring his willingness to visit Myanmar again, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the country's military government to follow up its recent prisoner release by freeing all political detainees and quickly resuming talks with the opposition without preconditions.

While Ban said there should not be any preconditions to a return visit, he made clear that the international community wants to see significant steps by Myanmar's military junta toward national reconciliation and "full democratisation."

"This is the time for Myanmar to seize the opportunity before it to send positive signals," he said. The secretary-general has come under mounting pressure to go back to Myanmar following visits by his top envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, in August and early February which produced no movement on key issues.




These include UN recommendations to open a serious political dialogue between detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the government, release Suu Kyi and some 2,200 other political prisoners, promote national reconciliation, and ensure that elections in 2010 will include all opposition and minority groups. Ban noted that following Gambari's latest visit Myanmar's junta announced an amnesty for more than 6,300 prisoners which reportedly includes some 23 political prisoners "as of now," including "individuals whose names Mr. Gambari discussed with the authorities during his visit."

According to Free Burma Coalition, "Over the decades, the Burmese government has subjected its citizens to epic misrule, systematically destroying every institution of society except the Army, whose leaders have made staying in power their overriding goal. The streets of Rangoon and Mandalay are monitored by the secret police and by a group of armed thugs known as Swan Arr Shin—the Masters of Force. Dissidents are routinely tortured. The generals' irrational economic policies have reduced one of Asia's richest countries, once the world's leading exporter of rice, to penury. Burma's gross domestic product per capita is now less than half that of its neighbor Cambodia. Economic sanctions—a form of protest against the government's human-rights abuses—have made the
country even poorer."

At this period of time, the Myanmar is really facing tough times and national reconciliation is necessary. Govt. of India should also do its bit to forge national
reconciliation in Myanmar so that ordinary person in Myanmar enjoys human rights and the abject poverty of Myanmar is reduced.


Satbir Singh Bedi